ARTICLE
27 August 2025

A Deep Dive Into The Fight For The CFPB's Survival

BS
Ballard Spahr LLP

Contributor

Ballard Spahr LLP—an Am Law 100 law firm with more than 750 lawyers in 18 U.S. offices—serves clients across industries in litigation, transactions, and regulatory compliance. A strategic legal partner to clients, Ballard goes beyond to deliver actionable, forward-thinking counsel and advocacy powered by deep industry experience and an understanding of each client’s specific business goals. Our culture is defined by an entrepreneurial spirit, collaborative environment, and top-down focus on service, efficiency, and results.
We have previously blogged about the August 15 DC Circuit Court opinion in the lawsuit filed months ago by the labor unions representing CFPB Employees against the Acting Director of the CFPB...
United States Finance and Banking

We have previously blogged about the August 15 DC Circuit Court opinion in the lawsuit filed months ago by the labor unions representing CFPB Employees against the Acting Director of the CFPB, Russell Vought, seeking injunctive relief related to the alleged "shut down" of the agency. As reported, the Court of Appeals, by a 2-1 majority, vacated a preliminary injunction granted by the District Court which, among other things, had precluded the CFPB from implementing a reduction-in-force ("RIF") which would have left the CFPB with only 200 employees to perform its statutorily-mandated functions.

Because of the extraordinary importance of this opinion, we will be releasing a special podcast show this coming Thursday, August 29, in which the host of our show, Alan Kaplinsky (founder and former practice group leader and now Senior Counsel of the Consumer Finance Services Group) has a robust discussion with Joseph Schuster (a partner in our Consumer Financial Services Group) about the following topics:

  • the majority opinion written by Judge Katsos
  • the dissenting opinion written by Judge Pillard
  • the plaintiffs options for further review and why the odds are at least 50-50 that the full DC Circuit Court of Appeals (consisting of 11 judges, 7 of whom were appointed by Democratic presidents) will grant en banc review
  • why it might advantage plaintiffs to further prosecute the lawsuit in the District Court as the CFPB implements the RIF and otherwise cuts back its activities to perform functions that are only statutorily-mandated
  • how the CFPB's budget (which was cut almost in half by the Big Beautiful Bill) plays into the CFPB's reduced functions
  • what the CFPB will look like after the litigation is over and the dust settles
  • how does the just-released semiannual regulatory agenda play into this?
  • what's happening with the complaint portal?
  • what is happening with supervision and enforcement.
  • what is happening at DOJ and the FTC
  • are the state AGs ramping up their enforcement to fill the void created by the CFPB?

YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS THIS PODCAST SHOW which will bring you up to speed on what is happening and likely to happen with respect to the CFPB, other federal agencies and state AGs with respect to consumer financial services regulation.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

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