The Supreme Court agreed on Feb. 27 to hear a second challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in three years.
The appeal gives the court’s 6–3 conservative majority an opportunity to continue its campaign to restrain the so-called administrative state by curtailing the authority of regulators and placing them under more stringent presidential control.
This new appeal challenges the means by which the CFPB is funded; the previous case dealt with the structure of the bureau.
The controversial federal agency, which regulates consumer financial products such as credit cards, mortgages, and car loans, was the brainchild of left-wing U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Democrats fiercely defend the CFPB, formed in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, saying it serves a useful function as a check on corporate power….