The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision confronting the leadership structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau emboldened companies in long-running litigation against the agency, forcing federal judges to weigh whether the regulator can press forward with enforcement actions that were initiated under an unlawfully appointed leader.

In the 5-4 decision, the high court in June struck down the CFPB’s single-director design as unconstitutional, ruling that the president must be freely able to remove the agency’s leader at will and not just for cause.