Judge blocks dismantling of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, orders employees reinstated
A federal judge is blocking the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, finding the Trump administration acted "completely in violation of law" when it attempted to quickly shutter the organization.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a preliminary injunction Friday afternoon that requires the Trump administration to reinstate any terminated CFPB employees, rescind the cancellation of any contracts, allow the workforce to access their computers and return to the office, resume statutorily required work and maintain any records held by the organization.
"If the defendants are not enjoined, they will eliminate the agency before the Court has the opportunity to decide whether the law permits them to do it, and as the defendants' own witness warned, the harm will be irreparable," Judge Jackson wrote.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created by Congress to safeguard Americans against unfair business practices in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, has been targeted for elimination by President Donald Trump as part of his efforts to slash the federal government.
Trump has said the CFPB is "very important to get rid of" and that the organization was "set up to destroy some very good people."
In her ruling, Judge Jackson said the Trump administration acted in "complete disregard" for Congress when it attempted to unilaterally dismantle the agency.
Their efforts to dismantle the organization continued even after Judge Jackson in February ordered the Trump administration to not fire the majority of the agency's employees, she wrote.
"Absent an injunction freezing the status quo – preserving the agency's data, its operational capacity, and its workforce – there is a substantial risk that the defendants will complete the destruction of the agency completely in violation of law well before the Court can rule on the merits, and it will be impossible to rebuild," she wrote.
Judge Jackson also criticized the Trump administration for scrambling to change course after she began examining the effort to wind down operations.
According to Jackson, the government's claim that the CFPB was still performing its legally required duties was "nothing more than window dressing" to hide what was happening to shutter the organization.
"The defendants are still engaged in an effort to implement a Presidential plan to shut the agency down entirely and to do it fast," Judge Jackson.
In court proceedings, Trump administration officials claimed the stop-work order that sent the vast majority of employees home was a "common practice at the beginning of a new administration" and Justice Department lawyers insisted the Trump administration is trying to improve the CFPB, not destroy it.
Judge Jackson specifically called out the irreparable harm done to one of the plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit, Pastor Eva Steege, who sought help from the CFPB to forgive her public service loans before she died. With the Trump administration dismantling the CFPB as she requested help, Steege never got an appointment with the CFPB, according to her lawyers.
"If I do not receive public service loan forgiveness and the large refund that I am owed before my death, my family could be forced to pursue a death discharge that will not provide them with the refund that they are counting on so that they can use the money for basic needs after I pass," Steege said in a sworn declaration.
She died on March 15, and her loans were never discharged.
"The irreparable harm that has already come to pass for Pastor Eva Steege is enough to grant preliminary relief," Judge Jackson wrote.
