{"id":14507,"date":"2018-01-31T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T01:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/appeals-court-backs-key-part-of-the-structure-of-consumer-watchdog-agency\/"},"modified":"2018-01-31T17:55:00","modified_gmt":"2018-02-01T01:55:00","slug":"appeals-court-backs-key-part-of-the-structure-of-consumer-watchdog-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/appeals-court-backs-key-part-of-the-structure-of-consumer-watchdog-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeals Court Backs Key Part Of The Structure Of Consumer Watchdog Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Richard Gonzales<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in November 2017.<\/p>\n

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Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/p>\n

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Jacquelyn Martin\/AP<\/p>\n

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A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., has ruled<\/a> that the independent structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau \u2014 which forbids the president to remove its director except for certain causes \u2014 is constitutional. That’s a setback for the agency’s critics in the financial industry and the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

As NPR’s Chris Arnold reports:<\/p>\n

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“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.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

“Now the court has ruled even the president doesn’t have that power.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n