The Center for Effective Government (formerly OMB Watch) has created Sequestration Central, a website devoted to providing comprehensive and up-to-date information on the federal government budget sequestration that went into effect today.
by Brian Wolfman The Big Spring suit filed in federal district court in D.C. challenges various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Wall St. reform law, including the legality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, on separation-of-powers grounds. That suit includes a challenge to Richard Cordray's appointment as CFPB director as an impermissible (non-)recess appointment. We last posted […]
by Brian Wolfman Last month, we posted about a likely settlement between federal regulators and 13 major mortgage servicers — including some of the world's biggerst banks — that would make direct cash distributions to homeowners who lost their homes or went underwater during the financial crisis, in whole or in part because of improper […]
This has been a revealing week for President Obama's two appointees to the Supreme Court, who are becoming two of the strongest voices on the Court. On Monday, Justice Sotomayor made national headlines with her opinion regarding a denial of cert. (beginning at page 13 of this Order List) — though agreeing on procedural grounds […]
On Sunday, Brian posted a link to the Times story, Major Banks Play Key Role in Payday Loans Banned by States. Yesterday, the Times followed up with a report, Dimon Pledges to Change JPMorgan’s Practices on Payday Loans. The specific practice that has drawn Dimon's ire is of withdrawing money from depositors' accounts to repay payday loans […]
Here. According to the report, Ramirez was an intellectual property lawyer before joining the FTC. It's not clear how much expertise she had in consumer law before becoming a commissioner.
We posted recently on the revolving door between industry and congressional staffs. Now, we've been provided more detail with this joint review by Remapping Debate and the Center for Responsive Politics. The review looked at the chiefs of staff and legislative directors of the new members of the 113th Congress to detemine who previously worked […]
by Deepak Gupta Along with the historic Voting Rights Act arguments this morning, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in American Express v. Italian Colors — a major antitrust arbitration case that we've mentioned on the blog several times over the years (e.g., here and here). I've been serving as co-counsel for the plaintiffs/respondents in […]
by Jeff Sovern Here. According to the story, Representative Hensarling called the CFPB "Orwellian-titled." So I guess he doesn't think the Bureau actually protects consumers (or maybe he thinks it isn't really a bureau). I would love to hear Representative Hensarling's reasoning on that one. Does he believe, for example, that clearer disclosures are harmful to […]
The Fourth Circuit has held, in Noohi v. Toll Brothers, that an arbitration clause in a contract between home buyers and a real estate development company is unenforceable because the clause lacked mutuality of consideration under governing Maryland law. (The clause lacked mutuality because it forced the home buyers but not the development company to […]