In a case brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the State of New York, a judge in the Southern District of New York held today that the structure of the CFPB is unconstitutional because it is an independent agency that has substantial executive power and a single director. Judge Loretta Perska further held that the provision of the statute that she held unconstitutional cannot be severed from the rest of the section of the Dodd-Frank Act that established the CFPB, and she therefore held the entire section to be invalid. The judge then said that the CFPB lacks authority to bring an enforcement action, and she dismissed its claims.
Judge Preska was nominated to the district court by President George H.W. Bush and has served since 1992.
The decision in CFPB v. RD Legal Funding is available here.
Please explain to me – what does this mean? What is in place to protect consumers?