Appeals Court Backs Key Part Of The Structure Of Consumer Watchdog Agency
Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in November 2017.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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Jacquelyn Martin/AP
A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has ruled that the independent structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — which forbids the president to remove its director except for certain causes — is constitutional. That’s a setback for the agency’s critics in the financial industry and the Trump administration.
By a vote of 7-3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that Congress acted appropriately when it set up the bureau with a single director who could only be removed by the president for inefficiency, malfeasance in office or neglect of duty, and not for political reasons.
The case involves the PHH Corp, a New Jersey mortgages services company that had been fined $109 million in 2015 for alleged mortgage kickbacks. The company responded by challenging the CFPB Director’s protection from removal as unconstitutional.
As NPR’s Chris Arnold reports:
“After the financial crisis a decade ago, Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It’s run by a single director with broad powers to create and enforce regulations that protect Americans from predatory lending and other abuses.
“Critics argue that gives the bureau too much power. They wanted President Trump to be able to fire the director for whatever reason he wanted.
“Now the court has ruled even the president doesn’t have that power.”
In its 250-page ruling, the appeals court said:
“PHH challenges the removal protection of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Director, arguing that it unconstitutionally upsets the separation of powers. But the CFPB’s structure respects the powers and limits of each branch of government. Congress’s decision to establish an agency led by a Director removable only for cause is a valid exercise of its 18 Article I legislative power.”
But as NPR’s Arnold added, in the short term, the ruling won’t make much difference. The Obama-era director, Richard Cordray stepped down in November 2017. Trump replaced him with an interim chief, White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a longtime agency critic who once dismissed the agency as a “sad, sick joke.” There is an ongoing lawsuit related to Mulvaney’s authority. Upon Cordray’s resignation, he appointed his chief of staff, Leandra English, as acting director of the Bureau. That set up a power struggle over the CFPB’s leadership and so far a federal court judge has sided with the Trump administration, allowing Mulvaney to take charge.
That ruling is under appeal. The decision by the D.C. appeals court does not impact that lawsuit.
It's In Their Blood: Siblings Eye 1st Mixed Curling Gold At Winter Olympics
(Left) United States’ Becca Hamilton releases the stone during a match against Switzerland in the Women’s World Curling Championship in Beijing on March 23, 2017. (Right) Becca’s brother, Matt Hamilton, delivers a stone during the bronze medal game between the U.S. and Japan at the World Men’s Curling Championships on April 10, 2016.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP; Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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Mark Schiefelbein/AP; Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
When Matt and Becca Hamilton are on the ice together, it’s pure chemistry. The brother and sister compete in curling, the “roaring game” where players take turns lunging down a sheet of ice, pushing a 44-pound rock.
They sweep the ice with a special broom to help glide the rock to a target, known as the house. The team that ends up with rocks closest to the center of the house gets the points. It’s similar to shuffleboard or even bocce ball.
“It’s almost poetic,” Matt, 27, says. “All you can hear is your broom sliding on the ice, and the rock sliding, the occasional sound of rocks hitting each other. It’s kind of serene. It was very Zen.”
Now, the Hamilton siblings are heading to PyeongChang next month to represent Team USA at the 2018 Olympics.
Matt and Becca Hamilton grew up watching their family curl at the Madison Curling Club in Wisconsin. Matt was not always impressed with the sport, he says.
“I remember in eighth grade, I watched my dad do it,” he says. “And, I did not think it was cool when dad was doing it.”
Matt eventually found an interest in the sport. He got hooked on curling and then taught his younger sister.
“Once I was drug out on the ice, I didn’t look back,” 26-year-old Becca says. “I was down [at the curling club] every single day before school and after school, playing in multiple leagues at night. I was hooked.”
Matt is competing with the men’s team, and Becca is playing with the women’s team. But it’s their mixed doubles that’s getting all the attention.
The mixed doubles event is new to the 2018 Olympics, and the Hamiltons will be on the ice competing against seven of the best curling duos from around the world. The siblings are hoping to make it to the podium, taking home the first gold medal in mixed doubles curling.
The duo praise one another for their talent on the ice. Matt says he thinks Becca is the best female sweeper in the United States, and Becca says Matt can make almost any shot.
Their ability to communicate also drives their success, says their mixed doubles coach Jake Higgs.
“I would say it’s a better vibe than you get from spouses or significant others playing together,” Higgs says. “Typically when things blow up for spouses it can take a number of ends or games to talk to each other again or like each other again whereas with Matt and Becca, it’s a quick transition.”
Becca says her dynamic with Matt on the ice is different than with teammates on the women’s squad.
“Matt and I feed off each other and we ground each other at the same time,” Becca says. “So he’s pretty involved with the crowd and he’s got an upbeat personality and I’m kind of the calm out there that reels him back in when you need to.”
And because they’re related, Matt says they can be more open with each other.
“If someone’s struggling or something like that, we can tell each other with absolute honesty what we’re seeing and know that that’s not going to offend her,” Matt says. “I’m not telling her what she’s doing wrong to be mean. She knows I’m doing it to help her get better and play better.”
CDC Director Brenda Fitzgerald Resigns After Reports Show Investment In Tobacco Stocks
Brenda Fitzgerald, director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned on Wednesday because of financial conflicts of interest. The chief public health official bought stocks in tobacco and health care companies after she started working at the agency.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
The nation’s top public health official resigned today. This follows reports that Brenda Fitzgerald had bought shares in a tobacco company after she became head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC is charged with reducing tobacco use. This is not the first time a Trump administration official has resigned because of financial conflicts, as NPR’s Alison Kodjak reports.
ALISON KODJAK, BYLINE: Fitzgerald had been shadowed by financial conflicts since she took over at the CDC in July. She recused herself from working on issues related to cancer and opioids, two major public health threats, because of investments that she said were difficult to divest. Then Politico reported yesterday that she purchased shares in Japan Tobacco last summer after she arrived at CDC.
RICHARD PAINTER: It should be obvious that anyone working with the United States government in connection with public health should not be buying tobacco stock.
KODJAK: That’s Richard Painter, who was White House ethics lawyer for George W. Bush.
PAINTER: This is only one of several very high-ranking people in the Trump administration who’ve had serious financial conflicts of interest.
KODJAK: Painter refers to former Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, who also owned health care stocks when he was in Congress and then was forced to resign last fall after revelations that he used expensive private jets for government travel. The Department of Health and Human Services says Fitzgerald resigned because she had separate investments that created conflicts, and she was required to hold on to them for a defined period of time.
As for the tobacco shares, the agency says her financial adviser bought them without her knowledge along with shares in the drug makers Merck and Bayer, the health insurer Humana and U.S. Food. Having to sell investments to take a government job can be difficult, said Georges Benjamin, the executive director of the American Public Health Association. Even so, owning tobacco stocks is particularly troublesome.
GEORGES BENJAMIN: Tobacco is uniquely a problem because it’s the leading preventable cause of death. It’s something that any CDC director is going to have to actively address.
KODJAK: Both Benjamin and Painter say the situation at CDC shows that there’s a lack of strong ethics guidance in the Trump administration. Alison Kodjak, NPR News, Washington.
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Movie News: Next 'Purge' Gets Revealing Title, Teaser; First Look at Jamie Lee Curtis in New 'Halloween'
The First Purge: The title for the next installment in the Purge series has now been announced: The First Purge. The horror-thriller will examine how a small-scale test of a sociological theory became a nationwide phenomenon in which all crime becomes legal for a single night. James DeMonaco, who wrote and directed the first three installments, also scripted the next entry, which will open theatrically on July 4. Watch the first teaser video below. [Deadline]
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Halloween: Jamie Lee Curtis, who first portrayed the heroic Laurie Strode in John Carpenter’s classic horror film Halloween (above), shared the first official look at herself as the character in the upcoming direct sequel (below). Production has begun under the direction of David Gordon Green; a theatrical release is set for October 19. [Twitter via The Wrap]
First shot! First day. Same slate. Same Laurie. David Gordon Green directing from his script. Happy Halloween 2018 everyone. See you 10/19/18 @halloweenmovie#HalloweenMoviepic.twitter.com/iSC7NOblEA
— Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) January 30, 2018
Jungle Cruise: Emily Blunt (The Girl on the Train, above) will star in Disney’s Jungle Cruise. Inspired by the theme park attraction, the action-adventure stars Dwayne Johnson and will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra (The Commuter). Reportedly, Johnson sees the film as taking inspiration from the classic romantic adventure The African Queen, starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn; Disney hopes it will kick off a franchise. Production will begin in May. [Variety]
Hereditary Trailer: Debuting at the recently-concluded Sundance Film Festival, Hereditary shook up critics with its unsettling, disturbing atmosphere. Toni Collette stars in the dramatic horror film. Watch the first trailer below; it will open in theaters on June 8. [Movieclips]
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