In PHH Corp. v. CFPB, the D.C. Circuit found that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) was unconstitutional. While the en banc D.C. Circuit overruled this decision on constitutionality grounds, its impact has lived on in litigation throughout the country, where parties continue to make various constitutional arguments against the CFPB’s structure. For example, in Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, the Supreme Court found that the CFPB director’s for-cause removal restriction was unconstitutional. Following its decision in Seila Law, the Supreme Court made a similar ruling in Collins v. Yellen with respect to the removal restriction on the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Subsequent rulings from the Fifth Circuit raised multiple additional constitutional issues that directly challenged the CFPB’s structure, or directly challenged analogous provisions of other agencies’ authorities that may affect similar CFPB authorities. These included the Court’s ruling Articles in Community Financial Services Ass’n v. CFPB (“CFSA”) and Jarkesy v. SEC.
