Reps. Maxine Waters and Hakeem Jeffries, along with Sens. Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren have led 233 current and former Members of Congress, including the entire Senate Democratic caucus, in filing an amicus brief in defense of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This group includes former Rep. Barney Frank and former Sen. Chris Dodd, the lead architects of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which established the CFPB in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
The amicus brief was submitted in the case of National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), et al. v. CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought, et al. before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit following an appeal by the Trump Administration of a D.C. District Court ruling that blocked the Administration’s unlawful shutdown.
While the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have made several unlawful attempts to abolish the CFPB without Congressional approval, the group make clear in the brief that the sole authority to do so lies with Congress, as Congress created the agency. This Constitutional power holds true regardless of any President’s personal views about the agency.
“The Constitution provides that ‘[a]ll legislative Powers,’ U.S. Const. art. I, § 1, including the ‘plenary control over the … existence of executive offices,’ Free Ent. Fund, 561 U.S. at 500, ‘shall be vested in a Congress of the United States,’ U.S. Const. art. I, § 1. Pursuant to this prerogative, Congress has been creating, restructuring, and eliminating executive offices, departments, and agencies since the Founding. At the same time, because power over the basic structure of the federal government is Congress’s alone, the executive branch cannot unilaterally establish or dismantle an executive agency,” wrote the lawmakers. “…Even when past Presidents have called for agencies to be abolished, they have always recognized that Congress retains the ultimate power to eliminate agencies and transfer their functions.”
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 amicus brief marked the second brief led by Rep. Waters this year in response to actions taken by the Trump administration to dismantle the CFPB. 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.
“From 1932 to 1984, Congress gave the President reorganization authority by passing and renewing laws known as the Reorganization Acts. This history demonstrates that when Congress believes that delegating its reorganization power to the President will promote efficiency, it knows how to do so while simultaneously protecting against presidential overreach. Broadly speaking, the Reorganization Acts authorized the President to reorganize executive agencies by submitting a Reorganization Plan to Congress,” wrote the members.
Since the inception of the CFPB 15 years ago, it has returned $21 billion to 205 consumers including working-class families, servicemembers, veterans, students, and others harmed by predatory institutions.
“The administration’s actions, if allowed to occur, would not just be unconstitutional—they would also be disastrous. As the Supreme Court has explained, eliminating the CFPB would ‘trigger a major regulatory disruption and would leave appreciable damage to Congress’s work in the consumer-finance arena,” wrote the lawmakers in the brief. “…Without the CFPB, for example, consumers would have nowhere to turn for timely assistance from the federal government for help confronting unfair practices in the financial services industry. See 12 U.S.C. § 5493(b)(3)(A) (mandating the creation of a unit to give that assistance). Without the CFPB, consumers would not have access to the vital educational information published by the Bureau on consumer financial products and services. See, e.g., 15 U.S.C. §§ 1646(a), (b) (requiring such reports). And without the CFPB, banks and nonbanks’ legal violations would go uninvestigated and federal consumer protection laws would be underenforced.”
Click here to read a copy of the amicus brief.
