CFPB Is Constitutional, Court Rules, in Victory for Unaccountable Bureaucrats Everywhere

Reason discusses the ruling in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with Iain Murray.

The structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was ruled constitutional today.

Unlike other independent agencies not under the direct supervision of Congress or the president, the CFPB was given a single director instead of a panel of three or five commissioners. In theory, that was meant to insulate the bureau from political influence. In practice, it made the director one of the most powerful people in the federal government. Last year, a three-judge panel on the D.C. Circuit Court ruled the CFPB’s structure was unconstitutional, but the bureau was allowed to continue operating while the case was appealed to the full court.

Today’s ruling gives future heads of the CFPB license to wield that power with little restraint, says Iain Murray, vice president at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Murray’s group has filed its own constitutional challenge against the CFPB.

“This outrage to the spirit of the Constitution needs to be corrected by the Supreme Court and by Congress, which made the original mistake in giving the CFPB so much power with so little accountability,” says Murray.

Read the full article at Reason.