The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Friday, in a split decision, held that the US government’s mass layoffs of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFBP) employees, as part of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), are within its executive powers, vacating an earlier imposed preliminary injunction.
In the majority opinion, District of Columbia Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas held that all claims by the NTEU against the Director of the US Office of Management and Budget, Russell T. Vought, failed as a matter of law and lacked jurisdiction.
In a dissenting opinion, District of Columbia Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard stressed that in ordering the bureau to shut down, the President was not acting more than his statutory power, but “acted without any statutory authorization whatsoever.” Pillard added that the dismantling of the CFBP would amount to appropriation of legislative power, which is confided to Congress and not the President.
Pillard
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