Despite a Supreme Court decision that stripped the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of some of its independence, Sen. Elizabeth Warren says her brainchild agency is “here …
Despite a Supreme Court decision that stripped the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of some of its independence, Sen. Elizabeth Warren says her brainchild agency is “here to stay.”
The Massachusetts senator took to Twitter to respond Monday to the top federal court’s ruling that the CFPB’s director could be fired by the president without cause. Previously, the director, who is appointed by the president for a five-year term, could only be removed for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” so that the independent federal agency would be shielded from political pressure.
In a 5-4 decision Monday, the conservative-led Supreme Court sided with a California law firm that sued in response to a CFPB investigation, arguing the financial watchdog’s structure is “unconstitutional.” The decision means that the president can now fire the CFPB’s director “at will” or, in other words, for basically any reason.
However, the court stopped short of more sweeping action, such as weakening its enforcement abilities or even abolishing the CFPB altogether, which has been a goal of many Republicans and the banking industry.
“Let’s not lose sight of the bigger picture: after years of industry attacks and GOP opposition, a conservative Supreme Court recognized what we all knew: the @CFPB itself and the law that created it is constitutional,” Warren tweeted Monday.
While the Cambridge Democrat said the Supreme Court’s ruling “handed over more power to Wall Street’s army of lawyers and lobbyists to push out a director who fights for the American people,” she noted that the CFPB remains an “independent agency” — as opposed to the “mouthful of mush” she had fiercely opposed a decade ago.
