On October 3, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court held oral argument in CFSA v. CFPB, a case with profound potential implications for the future of the CFPB.  The Court will rule on whether the CFPB’s funding mechanism violates the U.S. Constitution’s Appropriations Clause and, if so, what the appropriate remedy should be.  Our special guests are six renowned attorneys who filed amicus briefs in the case: Michael Williams, Principal Deputy Solicitor General, Office of the West Virginia Attorney General; Adam Levitin, Professor, Georgetown University of Law Center; Scott Nelson, Public Citizen Litigation Group; Jeffrey Naimon, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP; Joshua Katz, Research Fellow, Cato Institute; and John Masslon, Counsel, Washington Legal Foundation.

This two-part episode repurposes our widely-attended and highly interactive webinar held on October 17.  In Part II, each of our guests offers his predictions for how the Court is likely to rule in CFSA v. CFPB.  We then discuss each party’s position regarding what remedy the Court should impose if it rules that that the CFPB’s funding mechanism  is unconstitutional, including whether the relevant provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act are severable and how a ruling against the CFPB should impact existing CFPB regulations.  We conclude with a discussion of the kinds of non-constitutional legal challenges the CFPB is currently facing or is likely to face in the future, including the potential impact of a Supreme Court decision overruling its 1984 Chevron decision dealing with judicial deference to federal agency rules. 

Alan Kaplinsky, Senior Counsel in Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Financial Services Group, moderates the discussion.

To listen to Part II of the episode, click here.

To listen to Part I of the episode, click here.