For Immediate Release:
January 23, 2020
Conact: Matt Baca — (505) 270-7148
Albuquerque, NM—Attorney General Balderas today joined a coalition of 24 attorneys
general fighting to ensure that the states can continue to benefit from powerful tools
under Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act that help them protect consumers from fraud and
abusive consumers practices. In an amicus brief filed in Seila Law, LLC v. Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau, the coalition argues that the U.S. Supreme Court should
preserve the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and other significant
consumer protections provided by Title X.
“In order for our families to truly prosper, we must protect them from predatory
businesses and those who would do harm to them,” said Attorney General Balderas. “I
will continue to fight to ensure that all New Mexican consumers and families have the
law enforcement resources they deserve to protect them and uphold the rule of law.”
In 2017, the CFPB commenced an investigation into the California law firm Seila Law
for its debt-relief practices. Seila Law sought to block the investigation entirely, arguing
that the CFPB is unconstitutionally structured because the CFPB may only be
terminated by the president “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
According to Seila Law, this for-cause removal provision impinges on the Executive
Power and violates the Constitution’s separation of powers clause. The U.S. District
Court for the Central District of California and U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
both rejected Seila Law’s arguments and upheld the constitutionality of the CFPB.
Seilia Law has now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, again arguing that the CFPB
is unconstitutional and that the entirety of Title X of the Dodd-Frank Act — which
includes the provisions that created the CFPB, as well as powerful, new tools for state
consumer protection enforcement — must be struck down.
Under the Trump Administration, the CFPB has changed course from the position of the
Obama Administration and now agrees with Seila Law that the for-cause removal
provision violates the separation of powers clause, although the agency argues that the
rest of Title X can survive even if the for-cause removal provision is invalid.
In the amicus brief filed today, the coalition argues that the CFPB’s structure is
constitutional and that — even if the for-cause removal provision is invalid — the CFPB
and the rest of Title X should survive. The brief highlights the many ways that the states
have worked cooperatively with the CFPB to root out fraud and abusive consumer
practices in the market, including joint enforcement actions and information sharing. The
brief also highlights the various provisions of Title X that are unrelated to the CFPB, but
nonetheless give the states powerful tools to combat fraud and abusive practices. As
the brief argues, these provisions provide important support to the states’ efforts to
protect consumers and are independent of the CFPB. The brief concludes arguing that
these new state powers should survive even if the for-cause removal provision or the
CFPB itself is unconstitutional.
Attorney General Balderas joins New York Attorney General Letitia James and the
attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois,
Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington,
Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia in filing today’s brief.