The judge blocks Trump’s efforts to close the consumer protection office | News Donald Trump
The federal judge ordered stopping attempting under President Donald Trump to dismantle the Consumer Protection Office (CFPB), an independent government agency in charge of investigation and prevention financial abuse.
On Friday, US judge Amy Berman Jackson approved the request of employees, advocates and union representatives to issue a preliminary prohibition, preventing the bureau to close while the court proceedings continue.
“The court cannot look away or CFPB will be dissolved and completely dismantled in about thirty days, long before this lawsuit reached its conclusion,” the judge wrote in her order.
She agreed with the plaintiffs that there was a risk of immediate, irreparable damage, given the speed at which the efforts of Trump’s administration took place.
“If the defendants are not enjoying it, they will eliminate the agency before the court has the opportunity to decide whether the law allowed it to do so,” Berman Jackson wrote.
The verdict was the last in the countless decisions of the court with which Trump’s Trump administration campaign is facing the simplification of the Federal Government, often through a major reduction in staff and removing entire agencies and departments.
Earlier that day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio even announced that he had informed Congress of plans to absorb US International Development Agency (USAID) in State Department, placing its independent functions under executive control.
But critics questioned whether such maneuver were legal. They claim that agencies such as USAID -A CFPB have been created as an independent organization under the congress and that the President exceeded its constitutional boundaries overcoming these decisions in Congress.
CFPB, in particular, has long been the target of conservative IREA.
Founded in 2011, the bureau was founded in response to the financial crisis 2007, which was encouraged by the practice of predatory borrowings.
As an independent agency, CFPB served as a guard, collecting research, monitoring financial markets and field complaints from ordinary consumers facing illegal or deceptive actions of their banks or financial services providers.
Since December 2024, the bureau has requested a Consumer’s return loan of $ 21 billion through reliefs, reduction or cash fees arising from his implementation activities.
But many Republicans and the financial industry leaders climbed IT implementing and regulatory activitiesaccusing the company braking.
On January 31, shortly after the start of his second term as president, Trump moved to the release of director Biro Rohita Chopra and replaced him with an ally.
By February 8, the office was ordered to stop all investigations, including those in progress, and stop any executive activities basically stopping their functions. The next day the headquarters were closed. The bureau also began to see the same widespread release that other federal agencies face.
Judge Berman Jackson has opened its decision on 112 pages with the quotes of some CFPB critics within Trump’s administration.
“CFPB has been awake for a long time and weapons against unwavering industries and individuals. This must be completed,” said Russell Vought, director of the Management and Budget Office under Trump.
Another critic quoted in the bench of Berman Jackson was Trump’s advisor and businessman of the billionaire Elon muskwho urged to “delete” the bureau.
“CFPB RIP,” he brought summarized on February 7th, because his department for the efficiency of the Government (Doge) led the dismantling of the organization.
Musk has been accused of having a conflict of interest with CFPB, as it expands financial services available on its Social Media Social Media platform.
Judge Berman Jackson emphasized that she did not easily make her decision in the opening lines of her verdict.
“The request to decide on the preliminary ban is reduced to one question: should the court take measures to preserve the consumer protection office now before the case was resolved in its fate?” Berman Jackson wrote. “It’s an extraordinary step.”
Still, she indicated that the ban was needed: “The court supervision is the only thing the defendants hold back.”
Among the prosecutors were the National Treasury Employee Union and the National Association for Improvement of Colored People (NAACP), a prominent civil rights organization.
But there was also an individual named: Reverend Eva Steege, an 83-year-old Lutheran Pastor who sought the assistance of CFPB for student loans that arose while in the seminary.
While researching Steege’s case, CFBP revealed that she not only qualified for forgiveness from the loan, but also for $ 15,000 returned in overpayment.
According to the complaint, Steege is in the care of hospice.
“She hoped to get rid of her debt and spare her family that burden after she died,” Judge Bersman Jackson wrote in her judgment.
But the sudden off of CFPB services left Steege in the crash, without a resolution for her case or a return of her overpayment.
“Steege’s fear that he will leave his surviving family members obsessed with a long student loan came on March 15, when she died,” the judge explained.
Berman Jackson said the case was asking questions about the separation of powers to the American Constitution and whether the president had embarked on “legislative power”.
“The evidence reveals that: the defendants actually became involved in common, accelerated efforts to completely close the agency when a proposal for pendant assistance was filed,” she wrote.
“Although the president is free to propose legislation to the Congress in order to achieve this goal, the accused are not free to eliminate the agency created by the statute alone, and certainly not before the court had the opportunity to decide on the fundamentality of the prosecutor’s challenge.”
She also emphasized what she called the “dishonest” arguments of the Trump administration lawyer.
“The court remained a little confidence that the defense could be believed to tell the truth about anything,” the judge wrote.
