File Photo: On March 12, 2019, before the House of Representatives Budget Committee on 2020 Budget in Capitol Hill, Washington, USA, Russell Vought, acting director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), testifies before the House of Representatives Budget Committee.
Yuri Gripas |Reuters
On Friday, a federal judge ordered the leader of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, appointed by President Donald Trump, to suspend the campaign to dismantle the institution.
In the filing, Judge Amy Berman Jackson was on his side with the CFPB employee union, which sued acting superintendent Russell Vert last month, preventing him from firing nearly every regulatory staff. Elon Musk’s government efficiency operatives are also involved in efforts to fire employees.
“The defendant must not terminate CFPB employees except for causes related to the performance or behavior of individual employees. The defendant must not issue a notice of force reduction to CFPB employees,” Berman said.
The order is the latest example of a federal judge opposed the steps taken by the Trump administration to fire federal employees and obstruct disadvantaged agencies. It brings new life to the only federal agency specifically appointed in consumer protection for non-bank financial players, but it accussssssssssssssing the industry of operating outside its authority under former director Rohit Chopra.
Berman ordered Vought to recover all dismissed probation and term employees after Vought was taken over at the CFPB, breaking Vought’s February suspension order, saying it should not be “deleted, destroyed, deleted or damaged agent data.”
“To enable employees to perform legally mandatory functions, the defendant must provide either a well-equipped office space or permission to work remotely,” he wrote.
In a drastic document, Berman also said that the CFPB must ensure that the consumer complaint portal works and that the agency responded to those complaints. It directed the CFPB to reverse the termination of the contract made by Vought and to submit a report by April 4th confirming compliance with the dict order.
She said the order will apply to all CFPB leaders and “other people who are active or participating, such as officials from the government’s Ministry of Efficiency.”
A Vought spokeswoman did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
In another 112-page opinion cited X’s February 7 post declaring “CFPB RIP,” Berman explained her rationale in granting the coalition’s request for interim injunctions.
“The courts can’t look away or the CFPB will be dissolved and will be completely dismantled in about 30 days.
The injunction “protects and promotes the ability of employees to maintain the agency’s presence and carry out statutory necessary activities until the case is resolved in merit and restores and preserves the agency’s contract, labor, data and operational capabilities,” she wrote.
