A new Supreme Court case could unravel financial protections for US consumers

On Oct. 18, the US Supreme Court agreed to review a case about the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s leadership structure, the outcome of which threatens to unravel nearly a decade of work by the federal watchdog created in 2010. The CFPB, which has shut down numerous lending scams, was created in response to the 2008 financial meltdown and is in part the brainchild of Democratic presidential candidate and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren. The Trump administration, which is a staunch advocate of executive power, argues that the bureau’s leadership structure is unconstitutional because its chief is a sole director with significant power in a five-year position and can only be removed by the president “for cause.” It argues that this violates the requirement of “separation of powers” in the Constitution.