Supreme Court lets CFPB funding stand (Amy Howe/SCOTUSblog)
https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/05/supreme-court-lets-cfpb-funding-stand/
Supreme Court lets CFPB funding stand
By Amy Howe
on May 16, 2024 at 12:55 pm
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to the constitutionality of the structure used to fund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the federal agency tasked with enforcing consumer finance laws. By a vote of 7-2, the justices reversed a decision by a federal appeals court in Louisiana, which had ruled that the agencys funding violates the Constitution because it comes from the Federal Reserve rather than through the congressional appropriations process.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority, in a decision that relied heavily on both the text of the Constitution and early English and U.S. history.
Justice Samuel Alito dissented, in an opinion joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch. He offered a dueling interpretation of history that he suggested, leads to the conclusion that the CFPBs funding scheme blatantly attempts to circumvent the Constitution.
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In a 22-page opinion joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson, Thomas explained that when the Constitution was ratified in the late 18th century, appropriations were understood as a legislative means of authorizing expenditure from a source of public funds for designated purposes.
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