WSJ Calls on D.C. Circuit to ‘Strike Down’ CFPB’s Structure

“In its short, unhappy life, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has compiled a record of abuse rivaling that of Washington’s most entrenched bureaucracies,” notes a Wall Street Journal editorial, expressing hope that the D.C. Circuit may soon “strike down this offense to constitutional governance.”

The court is considering a lawsuit filed by New Jersey mortgage lender, PHH Corp., which says CFPB Director Richard Cordray overstepped his authority by unilaterally overturning a $6.5 million fine imposed by an internal CFPB judge in favor of a $109 million fine. 

“But does the bureau really have the authority to conduct such raids on American business?” asks the WSJ editorial board, writing that the CFPB is a “a powerful independent regulatory agency run by a single federal official who cannot be removed from office at the will of the President.”