ANALYSIS: Three Ways the Supreme Court Could Nix the CFPB

How the federal government enforces consumer finance laws in the near future depends on whether the US Supreme Court invalidates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s funding structure in a case recently argued before the court.

If the bureau remains the flagship regulator in the consumer finance space, enforcement changes could be minimal. But if the court deems the bureau itself unconstitutional, the country could revert to a pre-Dodd-Frank regulatory landscape, where multiple agencies—none of which focuses primarily on consumer finance—enforce a disparate collection of consumer financial protection laws.

The Funding Structure

Under the Consumer Financial Protection Act, the bureau ...