A federal court has thrown out a challenge to President Donald Trump’s authority to name Mick Mulvaney as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
But not that one.
There are two legal challenges to the Trump administration installing Mulvaney as the replacement for Richard Cordray, who officially resigned as CFPB director in November.
One was brought by Leandra English, who was Cordray’s choice to lead the bureau after he stepped down.
Just before Cordray stepped down, he promoted English from chief of staff to deputy director, positioning her to take over as acting director, but the Trump administration fought Cordray’s chosen line of succession and installed Mulvaney, who frequently criticized the agency while serving in Congress, as acting director.
That set off a legal battle over who was really in charge of the CFPB, but U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly sided with Trump on two separate occasions, handing control of the bureau to Mulvaney.
English didn’t stop there either, taking her case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
That case is still ongoing, with the Court of Appeals recently agreeing to an expedited hearing in English’s case.
The other challenge to Mulvaney’s appointment came from an unlikely source, a financial institution that is regulated by the CFPB.
And that challenge is now over.
Back in December, Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union, a credit union based in New York, sued Trump and Mulvaney over the “illegal hostile takeover” of the CFPB and asked for English to replace Mulvaney.
But, according to a report from Reuters, a federal judge dismissed Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union’s lawsuit earlier this week, stating that the credit union did not provide any demonstrable impact from Mulvaney’s tenure at the CFPB.
From Reuters:
In a decision made public on Friday, U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan said the Lower East Side People’s Federal Credit Union lacked legal authority to sue, rejecting what he called the plaintiff’s “fear-based theory of standing.”
Gardephe said the credit union failed to show that any actual or expected policy changes under Mulvaney would undermine its ability to fulfill its mission of improving the health of underserved communities.
“Organizations advocating for a particular policy goal who have alleged no injury to themselves as organizations may not establish their standing simply on the basis of that goal,” Gardephe wrote.
The lawsuit was seeking an injunction barring Trump from naming a replacement for Cordray without Senate approval.
“President Trump has attempted an illegal hostile takeover of the CFPB, throwing the Credit Union and other credit unions and banks into a state of regulatory chaos,” the lawsuit stated. “Even worse, defendant Trump has purported to appoint an Acting Director whose mission is to destroy a Bureau that protects thousands of the Credit Union’s members.”
But, Gardephe disagreed.
