President Trump just won a big victory in the Washington, D.C. appeals court today, with two Trump-appointed judges overturning a lower court injunction preventing him from continuing with mass layoffs at the CFPB.
It was 2-1, with an Obama-appointed judge dissenting.
Here’s more from The Hill:
A federal appeals court panel on Friday overturned a judge’s block on the Trump administration’s dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), paving the way for mass layoffs to resume.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit panel voted 2-1 that employee unions and groups that use CFPB services have no right to bring their challenge in federal court.
It lifts a block that for months has prevented the CFPB from conducting planned layoffs affecting at least 80 percent of the bureau’s remaining workforce and terminating contracts.
“If the plaintiffs’ theory were viable, it would become the task of the judiciary, rather than the Executive Branch, to determine what resources an agency needs to perform its broad statutory functions,” wrote U.S. Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, an appointee of President Trump.
Katsas was joined in the majority by U.S. Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, also a Trump appointee.
U.S. Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard dissented, calling the decision “untenable.”
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought was tapped by Trump to serve as CFPB’s acting director, where he quickly looked to dismantle the agency that was established following the 2008 financial crisis.
Vought stopped the CFPB from drawing down more funding and took other drastic steps, including issuing stop work orders, canceling the lease of the agency’s headquarters and planning mass layoffs.
“The CFPB is now free to right-size itself in accordance with the law to best serve the American people,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said on the social platform X, celebrating the appeals ruling.
Good. It should be dismantled.