The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), frequently targeted of late by Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), avoided being shut down Friday as U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson denied actions by the Trump administration from firing Bureau employees, and ordered the reinstatement of workers who were previously terminated.
In Civil Action No. 25-0381, National Treasury Employees Union v. Russell Vought (in his official capacity as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau), the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) and other groups sued Acting CFPB Director Vought in February over the dismantling of the Bureau, arguing the effort violates the separation of powers between the branches of government. NTEU represents more than 1,000 frontline employees.
“The evidence presented in connection with the motion–the testimony of the agency’s Chief Operating Officer and other witnesses, and the agency’s own documents, produced by both sides–showed that Russell Vought, the Acting Director of the CFPB, ordered all employees to stop work on February 10, 2025,” said U.S. District Judge Berman Jackson in her ruling. “As of that date, the defendants were fully engaged in a hurried effort to dismantle and disable the agency entirely–firing all probationary and term-limited employees without cause, cutting off funding, terminating contracts, closing all of the offices, and implementing a reduction in force (RIF) that would cover everyone else. These actions were taken in complete disregard for the decision Congress made 15 years ago, which was spurred by the devastating financial crisis of 2008 and embodied in the United States Code, that the agency must exist and that it must perform specific functions to protect the borrowing public. The elimination of the agency was interrupted only because plaintiffs sought and obtained the Court’s intervention on the day the overwhelming majority of the employees were going to be fired.”
Established by Congress in response to the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB oversees financial institutions and protects consumers from predatory practices. Since its inception, the agency has recovered billions of dollars for American citizens and helped create a fairer, more transparent financial marketplace. Congress exercised its constitutional authority to regulate commerce when it created the CFPB, ensuring that it operates independently to fulfill its mandate.
“We will not stand by and let this administration destroy the agency that protects seniors, veterans, active-duty military and all American consumers,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald. “The employees of the CFPB are nonpartisan professionals who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and they believe in the mission of their agency. Locking them out of their jobs or firing them is a gift to predatory lenders and unscrupulous actors who prey on consumers.”
Several internal emails found the Trump administration planned to eliminate nearly 1,200 workers of the agency’s approximate staff of 1,700. And in a second phase of job cuts, The Hill reported that several CFPB employees said they were told the Bureau would be “wound down,” eliminating all but five employees and moving its statutorily required functions elsewhere.
“This a tragedy for American consumers, and it is lawless,” said Deepak Gupta, Founding Principal of Gupta Wessler LLP, and Former Senior Counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. “The Bureau was created by Congress to ensure a fair marketplace and protect the financial security of everyday Americans, helping them avoid fraud, predatory lending, and abusive financial practices. The President and his acting director lack the authority to suspend the agency’s work, defund its operations, or halt enforcement of consumer protection laws. We seek an immediate order restoring the CFPB’s operations and emergency relief to prevent further harm to consumers.”
Click here to view a copy of Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s opinion on the CFPB case.
