In response to a challenge from mortgage servicer PHH Corp. regarding the constitutionality of the single director structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the CFPB or Bureau), the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit (the DC Circuit) found that independent agencies, such as the CFPB, must be led by multi-member commissions in order to be constitutional. To cure this unconstitutional structure, the DC Circuit used the Dodd-Frank Act’s severability clause and effectively deleted the provision that the President may remove the CFPB director only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance of office.” The practical effect of removing this “removal for cause” clause is that the CFPB is now an executive agency which may have a single director (akin to the Department of Commerce or Environmental Protection Agency), and Director Cordray must follow the direction of the President of the United States.
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