In the months since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s structure as unconstitutional, the agency has pressed on in federal courts across the country to salvage cases and prevent the unraveling of pending enforcement actions. The CFPB yesterday faced its latest test in that effort as a federal appeals court in San Francisco heard arguments over whether it should toss the investigative demand that gave rise to the Supreme Court challenge, the National Law Journal reported. Appearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, CFPB lawyer Kevin Friedl argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling in June should not torpedo the agency’s request for records from Seila Law, a California firm that was sued in 2017 after refusing to turn over information about its debt-relief services. Friedl dismissed the notion that the CFPB should have to reissue its so-called civil investigative demand, telling a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit that “there’d be no point in making the agency go back to square one here.” “This is something we issued as part of a still-ongoing investigation,” he said, adding that having to reissue the investigative demand would occasion “at least months of further delay, if not more.” In its split decision, the Supreme Court stripped the CFPB of its independence, ruling that the agency’s director should be fireable at the president’s will. CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger responded to the ruling by endorsing, or ratifying, court actions that had been brought before the 5-4 decision, in an effort to bolster them against challenges.
