President Donald Trump is moving ahead with efforts to overhaul or replace the historic 2010 Dodd-Frank Act—a signature promise of his 2016 campaign. Meanwhile, a case is making its way through the federal courts in which plaintiffs challenge the legitimacy of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent consumer watchdog which was created under the act.
In response, Michael S. Barr, one of Dodd-Frank's key architects, is coming to the defense of the CFPB in court—and in the court of public opinion. Barr, who last month joined others in filing a brief in support of the agency, has published a piece for Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, arguing "Why the CFPB Is Constitutional" and defending the critical need for an independent consumer watchdog.
"The Court should not re-write the Dodd-Frank Act to make the CFPB’s director removable at will, and the Trump Administration should, in any event, not fire its highly able and distinguished director, Rich Cordray, who is doing so much to protect American consumers," he argues. "The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau should be allowed to do its job."