After switching sides in the landmark battle between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and PHH, the Department of Justice requested to have its own time slot during the oral arguments to be held on May 24, a post from the CFPB Monitor by Barbara Mishkin stated.
The United States government began to indicate that it might be switching sides in the case in mid-March, signaling that the Trump administration would not be as supportive of the CFPB as the Obama administration had been.
However, the major reversal of sides didn’t mean they fully agreed with PHH.
Filing an unopposed motion with the D.C. Circuit, the DOJ requested 10 minutes of argument time in the oral arguments since it doesn’t fully align with the arguments of either side. Under current court procedures, each side is allocated 30 minutes for oral argument.
The DOJ’s amicus brief in the case already revealed that it didn’t completely agree with PHH’s stance.
While PHH asks for the abolishment of the CFPB, the DOJ argues that the CFPB director should be removable by the president.
“In our view, the panel correctly applied severability principles and therefore properly struck down only the for-cause removal restrictions,” the DOJ stated in reference to the Court of Appeals earlier ruling.
