AUSTIN — Texas is leading a 14-state coalition that recently filed a "friend-of-the-court" brief challenging the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The amicus brief filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, asks the court to disagree with an D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year taht stated the CFPB's structure was constitutional, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“The CFPB was designed to be a rogue agency and its structure violates the Constitution’s separation of powers,” Paxton said in a statement. “The CFPB operates like a branch of government unto itself, insulated from congressional appropriations and presidential authority. Its unlawful structure allows an unelected and unaccountable director to wield more power than anyone else in the U.S. government, except the president.”
Joining Paxon in filing the brief are attorneys generals from Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Maine Gov. Paul LePage.