A federal judge ruled against a deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday, declining to issue a restraining order against the Trump administration for installing its own selection for acting director of the agency.
Last week Leandra English, the deputy director of the CFPB, was tapped to lead the agency by its outgoing director, Obama appointee Richard Cordray. But the White House named its Office of Management and Budget director, Mick Mulvaney, as acting director until President Trump could nominate a replacement. It’s widely believed Cordray resigned from the CFPB in preparation for a run for governor of Ohio.
English is suing the administration to block Mulvaney’s temporary appointment, but U.S. district judge Timothy Kelly (a Trump appointee) ruled against her after holding an emergency hearing on the matter Monday. Mulvaney began working as acting director this week.
Republicans have been skeptical of the broad powers of the CFPB since its creation in 2010 under the Dodd-Frank financial services bill—particularly the agency’s lack of accountability with Congress. The White House has seen Cordray’s CFPB step up its work in the months since Trump’s election, going farther into what Shannen Coffin calls the agency’s “regulatory overreach.”
Mulvaney’s appointment drew criticism from defenders of the CFPB since the former South Carolina congressman had called the bureau a “joke.”
Cordray’s surprise appointment of English, his 34-year-old chief of staff, as his successor reportedly rankled employees at the CFPB.
