It is not surprising to me that Director (yes, he is still the Director until a court rules otherwise) Cordray has had difficulty finding a Deputy Director to fill Raj Date’s position. (Last Thursday, he appointed Steven Antonakes to serve temporarily in that position.) Mr. Date was a highly qualified individual with lots of gravitas. To his credit, Mr. Cordray is seeking someone similarly qualified to fill Mr. Date’s shoes.

So why is Mr. Cordray having so much difficulty? Think of it this way. If you have a senior position in a bank where you are being highly compensated, would you want to uproot yourself and your family by moving to Washington to take a position with an agency over which there is a dark cloud? If a court rules that Mr. Cordray was unlawfully appointed as Director, then his appointment of the Deputy Director will also be considered unlawful. My guess is that the position will not be filled until the uncertainty created by the D.C. Circuit Court opinion in Canning v. NLRB gets resolved.