Durbin, Duckworth Colleagues File Amicus Brief Slamming President Trump's Lawless Attempts To Dismantle The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and 41 of their Senate Democratic colleagues in filing an amicus brief with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in a lawsuit brought forth after President Trump illegally fired staff at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The amicus brief condemns mass firings at the CFPB, reiterates that Congress created the CFPB to combat the abuses that caused the devastating 2008 financial crisis, and highlights that the President does not have the power to abolish it.
“Congress has been creating, restructuring, and eliminating executive offices, departments, and agencies since the Founding. At the same time, because power over the basic structure of the federal government is Congress’s alone, the executive branch cannot unilaterally establish or abolish an executive agency,” the lawmakers wrote.
“The Administration’s actions, if allowed to occur, would not just be unconstitutional—they would also be disastrous. As the Supreme Court has explained, eliminating the CFPB would ‘trigger a major regulatory disruption and would leave appreciable damage to Congress’s work in the consumer-finance arena,’” the lawmakers wrote.
In addition to Durbin, Duckworth, Schumer, and Warren, the amicus brief has been signed by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE), Peter Welch (D-VT), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Ed Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Michael Bennet (D-CO), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), John Fetterman (D-PA), Mark Warner (D-VA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Jack Reed (D-RI), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) as well as over 180 House Democrats. Former lawmakers Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Barney Frank (D-MA) also signed onto the amicus brief.
The amicus brief can be seen here.
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