A federal court has sided with President Trump in a lawsuit over who should control the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Because of course they would.
The question was whether the federal Vacancies Act of 1988 superseded the line of succession established in the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. This was not a hard question (for anyone not blinded by partisan rage). Basic jurisprudence reinforced by common sense makes it absolutely clear that presidents get to name temporary directors and that Dodd-Frank’s rules for CFPB succession operated in the absence of a presidential appointment. But the obvious couldn’t stop the hysterical from taking root.
The Left fumed that Trump was grossly overstepping his bounds by tapping Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney for the temporary spot. They made a martyr of Leandra English, who claims to be the rightful director and who filed suit against Trump, and then they launched an ill-advised crusade on her behalf. From the beginning, this was stupid .
What the Left tried branding as a power grab, the Department of Justice concluded was necessary and proper. They condoned Trump’s decision to send Mulvaney to the CFPB. And even the general counsel of the agency, a career federal attorney named general counsel by Obama appointees, agreed with the administration in a lengthy concurring memo.
“It is my legal opinion that the president possesses the authority to designate an acting director for the bureau,” Mary McLeod wrote in a Nov. 25 memo first obtained by Politico. “I advise all bureau personnel to act consistently with the understanding that Director Mulvaney is the acting director of the CFPB.”
And really, at this point, the debate should have been over. English could’ve skipped the charade of show meetings with Democratic senators, the awkward public statements, and the downright petty Twitter accounts. She could’ve kept her dignity and avoided the embarrassment of wrongly insisting in front of the whole nation that she really was the boss. But of course, English didn’t. Liberals wouldn’t let her.
Both Mick Mulvaney (@CFPBDirector) and Leandra English (@DirectorCFPB) have created twitter handles for the Bureau’s Director. What a time to be alive. #CFPBdebacle
— Daniel Press (@danielpress94) November 28, 2017
Instead the longtime-staffer-turned-deputy-CFPB-director-overnight, literally, humiliated herself with a legal challenge that was completely hopeless, burning herself out with totally transparent maneuvering. Thankfully, for her and for the rule of law, it appears to be all over now.
