The true constitutional test of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (bureau) is upon us, with the bureau set to resolve its existential crisis in a manner of weeks in the long-awaited, now-pending U.S. Supreme Court case, Seila Law v. CFPB (Seila Law or case). The case reveals the Trump administration’s express recognition of the importance of the bureau’s work and highlights the declining ability of companies to challenge bureau investigations on constitutional grounds. A recent string of Bureau Director Kathy Kraninger’s decisions underlines this evolutionary precept, maintaining the bureau’s years-long position that challenges to its constitutionality are hollow shields that will not protect a business seeking to stop a bureau enforcement investigation to which it is subject. The bureau’s ultimate fate aside, the Trump administration’s positions as articulated in its Supreme Court briefing and at oral argument, coupled with the bureau’s recent petition denials, offer unexpected insight into the next era of consumer financial protection under the Trump administration.

  • The Trump Administration Drives Straight Ahead Rather Than Take the Fork in Seila Law.

 The Trump administration’s positions were neither pro-bureau, nor pro-industry.