Today, the Supreme Court failed to rein in one of the most powerful agencies you’ve never heard of: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Congressional Democrats led by Senator Elizabeth Warren created this administrative monster in 2010 to regulate consumer finance. While many federal agencies test the boundaries of the separation of powers, the CFPB crossed them, given its broad scope, structure, and funding. Congress tried to make it run on autopilot, independent of presidential oversight and congressional funding. Four years ago, the Supreme Court struck down the CFPB’s leadership structure, but left the funding intact. Today, the Court upheld the CFPB’s perpetual source of funding through the Federal Reserve.
Landmark argued in our brief that the insulated, perpetual, and regenerating source of funding for the CFPB violated the separation of powers and the Appropriations Clause. Justices Alito and Gorsuch agreed, but the Court’s majority decided differently. “Congressional Democrats wanted to make sure this massive agency gets funded, no matter what it does and no matter who gets elected,” said Landmark’s Executive Vice President Matthew Forys. “The Court will undoubtedly revisit this issue because Congress will continue to push the constitutional limits on appropriations as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow morning.”