Supreme Court to hear case that threatens existence of consumer protection agency

[ZiprHead]

Supreme Court to hear case that threatens existence of consumer protection agency

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to take up a case that could threaten the existence of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and potentially the status of numerous other federal agencies, including the Federal Reserve.

A panel of three Trump appointees on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last fall that the agency's funding is unconstitutional because the CFPB gets its money from the Federal Reserve, which in turn is funded by bank fees.

Although the agency reports regularly to Congress and is routinely audited, the Fifth Circuit ruled that is not enough. The CFPB's money has to be appropriated annually by Congress or the agency, or else everything it does is unconstitutional, the lower courts said.

The CFPB is not the only agency funded this way. The Federal Reserve itself is funded not by Congress but by banking fees. The U.S. Postal Service, the U.S. Mint, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which protects bank depositors, and more, are also not funded by annual congressional appropriations.

In its brief to the Supreme Court, the Biden administration noted that even programs like Social Security and Medicare are paid for by mandatory spending, not annual appropriations.

"This marks the first time in our nation's history that any court has held that Congress violated the Appropriations Clause by enacting a law authorizing spending," wrote the Biden administration's Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar.

 

[Tigers!]

It is not a good thing that these agencies get the funding in a public transparent manner rather than funding by routes that can be opaque?

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if the courts found the USPS unconstitutional.

 

[laughing dog]

At this point, I wouldn't be shocked if the courts found the USPS unconstitutional.

Or the SCOTUS for that matter.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Thomas probably hates Marbury v Madison.