Brett Natarelli Discusses CFPB Case With Law360

In a case that will determine the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB)’s power, Brett Natarelli was quoted in a Law360 article covering the case. The article follows a unanimous decision by the Second Circuit to uphold the enforcement of an investigative demand that the agency issued against a debt collection law firm—effectively declaring the CFPB’s funding structure to be constitutional. Naterelli noted that the decision could give weight to arguments that the agency is likely to make about its funding structure being consistent with existing constitutional precedents. He continued:

"I think this issue of funding through the Federal Reserve rather than by normal appropriations is a genuinely new issue under the sun. And it's one that at least several of the more conservative justices are interested in. …I think we're in the very early stages of an appropriations clause doctrine, and this will be one of the opening salvos in that discussion at the Supreme Court."