On Friday afternoon, a federal judge ruled that the Trump administration cannot shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — and must undo the actions already taken to dismantle it — while the case proceeds.
Here are a few things the judge said in her 112-page ruling (when she says "plaintiffs" she is talking about our side):
Trump officials were "fully engaged in a hurried effort to dismantle and disable the agency entirely ... in complete disregard for the decision Congress made 15 years ago, which was spurred by the devastating financial crisis of 2008 and embodied in the United States Code, that the agency must exist and that it must perform specific functions to protect the borrowing public."
"Before it can step in, the Court must conclude that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claims, that they would suffer irreparable harm in the meantime if the Court lets the lawsuit run its course, and that an injunction would be in the public interest. The Court has made those findings, and the answer is an overwhelming yes: the Court can and must act."
"The elimination of the agency was interrupted only because plaintiffs sought and obtained the Court's intervention on the day the overwhelming majority of the employees were going to be fired."
The administration's "contention they were intent on doing what the law required them to do collapsed like a balloon at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade."
Here's more about this case:
- In 2008, Wall Street's reckless greed set off a worldwide financial crisis.
- So Congress, exercising its constitutional authority to regulate commerce, established a new federal agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — to protect the American people from wrong or unfair conduct by Big Banks and other giant financial institutions.
- Public Citizen played a major role in the creation of the CFPB.
- Since its creation in 2011, the CFPB has recovered billions for everyday Americans and helped create a fairer, more transparent financial marketplace.
- Donald Trump has openly declared his intent to "totally eliminate" the CFPB.
- The Trump administration cannot lawfully dismantle the CFPB — its attempt to do so is in defiance of the Constitution's separation of powers.
- The attempt to eliminate the CFPB has imposed significant harm on consumers all across the country.
Public Citizen, along with co-counsel, is representing the National Treasury Employees Union, CFPB Employee Association, NAACP, National Consumer Law Center, Ted Steege, and Virginia Poverty Law Center in this case.
This is one of seven active lawsuits Public Citizen is pursuing against the Trump regime so far. If the cases are starting to blur together, don't worry — you don't have to read every email or keep track of all the ins and outs. We will keep sending updates so you have at least an overall sense of how we're fighting back against the Trump/Musk/DOGE/MAGA onslaught.
If you can, please donate today to support Public Citizen's work standing up to the Trump regime.
Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help at such a critical moment.
Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven't already) to help make sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after day.
If you've donated to Public Citizen already, thank you. If a donation is not right, we get it. Either way, we wanted to keep you updated on how we're challenging the Trump regime.
Thank you for being part of this shared project called Public Citizen.
For progress,
- Robert Weissman & Lisa Gilbert, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
No comments:
Post a Comment