Could Kavanaugh undermine consumer protection?
Supreme Court justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh has drawn the ire of many political and social action groups who are concerned by how his conservative tendencies would swing the court. Vox’s Emily Stewart recently penned an article about how a Kavanaugh appointment could put consumer protections at risk by undermining the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
In 2016, Kavanaugh was part of a three-judge panel that ruled against the CFPB, which had levied fines against a mortgage company that the CFPB believed had harmed consumers. In his opinion, Kavanaugh wrote that held that the CFPB’s leadership structure is unconstitutional because it’s a single, non-elected director who can only be fired by the president with cause.
The CFPB was created in 2011 in the wake of the financial crisis that nearly resulted in a second Great Depression. According to the CFPB, it’s mission is to “consolidate most Federal consumer financial protection authority in one place” and “focus on one goal: watching out for American consumers in the market for consumer financial products and services.”
Given the Trump administration’s apparent disdain for the CFPB, the agency’s future could be in jeopardy if it finds itself in front of a Supreme Court that includes Kavanaugh. What will the implications be for consumers?
To read the entire article, please follow this link: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/7/11/17556120/brett-kavanaugh-elizabeth-warren-cfpb-regulations
—
Photo by Anthony Garand on Unsplash