CFPB held Unconstitutional

The Consumer Finance Protection Board or CFPB was set up by the Dodd Frank law.  The Democrats who passed that law structured the Board so that it would not be answerable to Congress or the President.  The CFPB is not funded by Congress; it gets its money from the Federal Reserve.  The head of the CFPB cannot be removed by the President at will; he or she may only be removed for cause.  There are other special wrinkles in the law setting up the CFPB, but the two listed make it unique among federal agencies.  They also make it unconstitutional according to a decision today in the Southern District of New York.  Judge Prenska dismissed the CFPB as a party in a pending action as a result of her finding that the Board was unconstitutional.

The decision will no doubt be appealed by the CFPB.  After all, the DC circuit court of appeals previously held to the contrary.  At some point, the issue will end up in front of the Supreme Court. 

Right now, however, the future of this agency is in question.