State AGs Band Together Against Mulvaney Appointment at CFPB with Brief to Court

A group of 18 state and Washington, D.C. attorneys general filed an amicus brief to the D.C. District Court supporting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Deputy Director Leandra English in her suit against interim director Mick Mulvaney. The state AG amicus joins consumer advocacy groups and a large cadre of current and former members of Congress in briefing the Supreme Court on the battle over who will temporarily oversee the CFPB until a permanent director can be confirmed.

Like English, the state AGs’ argument focused on maintaining the independence of the Bureau by installing the deputy director in the absence of the agency’s director. They argue that the independence of the agency is “essential to its [CFPB’s] mission” and tied the Bureau’s continued freedom from Presidential influence as crucial to state consumer enforcement efforts as well.

A federal judge already ruled against English’s request for a temporary order blocking Trump’s pick, Mick Mulvaney, from assuming the role as acting CFPB Director. She has vowed to fight as long as needed to take the position of acting director, and a group of CFPB employees have even formed a resistance movement to disrupt Mulvaney’s leadership.

For now, Mulvaney remains the acting director of the CFPB. He has wasted little time leaving his mark on the office by suspending investigations and freezing data collection for the consumer complaint database over data security concerns.

Along with the lawsuit by English, a credit union in New York is also challenging Mulvaney’s appointment to the consumer watchdog agency.