Why the Supreme Court Should Protect the CFPB’s Independence

For the first six years of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s existence, I served as its director. During my tenure, the law protected me from being fired by the president unless he could establish “cause”—by proving “ineficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office”—to justify my removal. This provision in the law is crucial, as it gives the position substantial independence from political control. That matters greatly, because what the CFPB does—regulating big banks and large financial companies to protect American families—is not always popular with politicians.

Now the independence of the CFPB is under challenge in the Supreme Court. A law firm that we were investigating for possibly cheating its customers has mounted a challenge to block the investigation from proceeding. The Trump administration has sided with the law firm, contending that a government agency having a single director with some protection against removal by the president is a violation of our constitutional system of separation of powers.

[Read: The fight over the CFPB reveals the broken state of American politics ]

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