Washington, DC – Current and former Members of Congress who led the crafting and passage of the landmark Dodd-Frank legislation that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – including former Senator Christopher Dodd, former Representative Barney Frank, Senator Elizabeth Warren, who originally proposed the CFPB, as well as Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Sherrod Brown, and House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters – filed a brief in federal District Court today in support of Deputy Director Leandra English’s motion for a preliminary injunction.

English is asking a judge to enjoin President Donald Trump’s choice to temporarily lead the CFPB, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, from serving as acting Director of the CFPB.

“The Dodd-Frank law is clear that Deputy Director English is the legal Acting Director, and she must be allowed to continue the agency’s work standing up for working families against financial abuse until a permanent Director is confirmed by the Senate,” said Senator Brown (D-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. “The White House must follow the law and nominate a permanent director swiftly who will fight for working people instead of the lenders that cheat them.”

“The Dodd-Frank statute is clear that the Deputy Director of the Consumer Bureau shall serve as Acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director,” said Congresswoman Waters (D-CA), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Financial Services. “Leandra English, the Consumer Bureau’s Deputy Director, is the lawful Acting Director and she should be allowed to serve in that capacity until a Director is confirmed by the Senate.”

“When Congress drafted Dodd-Frank, it made the deliberate decision to specify in the statute itself who should serve as acting Director in the event of a vacancy,” said CAC President Elizabeth Wydra, “and because that mandatory successor provision displaces the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, President Trump’s effort to install Mick Mulvaney as head of the CFPB is unlawful. Leandra English is the lawful Acting Director of the CFPB and the court should rule accordingly.”

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Resources:

Brief on behalf of 39 current and former Members of Congress in support of Leandra English’s motion for a preliminary injunction: https://www.theusconstitution.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/English_v_Trump_DDC_Prelim_Injuction_Motion_Final.pdf

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Constitutional Accountability Center (www.theusconstitution.org) is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history.

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