The constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) was the focus of all three branches of government March 3 as the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in the matter of Seila Law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The petitioner, Seila Law, asked the Supreme Court to strike down the legislation authorizing the CFPB as unconstitutionally insulating the director of the CFPB from removal from office by the president during her five-year term except for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” Seila Law argued that the Dodd-Frank Act granted impermissible executive power to an individual who does not answer to the president as the Constitution empowers the president to keep principal executive officers accountable by removing them at will.

The case originated from the issuance of a civil investigative demand (CID) from the CFPB to Seila Law as part of the CFPB’s enforcement power. Seila Law challenged the validity of the CID by arguing that the bureau’s constitutional infirmity caused the CID to be void. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the CID and the constitutional structure of the agency in a decision last year.

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