Trump judicial pick lets Trump’s CFPB pick stick
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday denied a request for a temporary restraining order to keep Mick Mulvaney from serving as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, handing a victory to President Donald Trump and opponents of the independent watchdog agency.
The ruling was issued by Judge Timothy Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. He was nominated by Trump and took his seat on the court in September.
The dispute was precipitated by last week’s resignation of Richard Cordray, a Democrat who has been the agency’s only director since it was established in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
Cordray announced Friday that he had appointed Leandra English as the agency’s deputy director, which made her the acting chief, but within hours Trump appointed Mulvaney, the White House budget chief, to fill the post.
English filed suit Sunday asking for the court order, saying she was the lawful acting director under a provision in the DoddFrank act that details succession when the director departs. The Trump administration has argued that the Federal Vacancies Act of 1998 allowed Trump to appoint an official who already had been confirmed by the Senate in another capacity to serve as acting director.
Trump selected Mulvaney, who had been confirmed by the Senate for his job as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. He said he would serve in both roles until Trump nominated a permanent director and that person was confirmed by the Senate.
The judge’s ruling Tuesday is not the final decision. But in making his decision, the judge said that English had not shown a substantial likelihood that she eventually would succeed on the merits of her case. The judge’s decision is not immediately appealable.
After the hearing, a lawyer for English, Deepak Gupta, said he hopes to be able to move the case along quickly. “I’m going to have to explore the options with my client,” he said, adding options include asking the judge for a final decision on the merits of the case.
The White House said it “applauds the court’s decision,” saying it provides “further support for the president’s rightful authority to designate Director Mulvaney as acting director of the CFPB.
Mulvaney and English both asserted Monday that they were the bureau’s acting director.
The CFPB is the federal government’s consumer watchdog for all things financial: checking accounts, credit cards, payday loans, debt collectors, etc. It exists to make sure customers are not being exploited and that banks are complying with the consumer protection laws. Proponents of the agency say that before the crisis there was no one regulator to turn to when things got bad in the mortgage market.
Associated
Press
contributed.