U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Democrats file amicus brief urging full D.C. Circuit rehearing of case over Trump administration CFPB firings

Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, together with Democratic members of the House Financial Services Committee, filed an amicus brief urging the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to rehear a case concerning the Trump Administration’s mass firings at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and its broader effort to dismantle the agency. Led by Senate Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, House Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters, and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, the lawmakers argue that shuttering the CFPB would be unconstitutional and that a president who disagrees with Congress’s design must seek change through legislation rather than unilateral action. The brief also frames the CFPB as central to the consumer-finance oversight framework created after the 2008 crisis, citing USD 21 billion returned to consumers and warning that eliminating the Bureau would leave significant parts of the market unprotected from predatory conduct. The release also notes related steps taken by congressional Democrats in 2025, including a February forum and report on reduced responsiveness to consumer complaints, opposition in March to efforts to overturn a CFPB overdraft-fee cap rule, a prior amicus filing in May, and action in June to block an attempt to reduce CFPB funding to 0%. It further references an independent investigative probe into whether the CFPB can carry out its mandated functions following the firings and an inspector general investigation into workforce reductions and canceled contracts.