CFPB Union Aims to Block Trump-Backed Streamlining, Agency Says

Unions and other plaintiffs are seeking a “breathtaking” power grab by courts in a case seeking to block the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from firing most of its workers and taking other steps contemplated by the Trump administration, the agency said.

There are no grounds for a preliminary injunction meant to block a termination of up to 95% of the CFPB’s workforce and the potential deletion of agency data by acting Director Russell Vought, the CFPB said in a brief filed late Monday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

While the plaintiffs argue Vought’s actions are the first step in deleting the CFPB, the Trump administration is only seeking a more “streamlined” agency, the brief said. The brief didn’t describe how many staff members would remain or what they would do, however.

Applying a preliminary injunction stopping Vought’s review of CFPB operations and policies would block the Trump administration from putting its own stamp on the agency, the CFPB brief said.

“That relief would essentially place the CFPB in a judicially managed receivership, with its day-to-day decision-making across a universe of issues superintended by the Court, rather than by the officer designated by the President,” the CFPB said.

The filing comes in litigation brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents many CFPB employees. The other plaintiffs are the CFPB Employee Association, the NAACP, the National Consumer Law Center, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, and Eva Steege, an 83-year-old Lutheran pastor with only six months to live who was seeking to cancel her student loans.

A hearing on the plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction motion is scheduled for March 3.

Union Suit

The union filed its lawsuit Feb. 9 and subsequently amended it to challenge Vought’s order directing CFPB employees to stop all work unless required by law or approved by the agency’s chief legal officer.

Vought’s actions amounted to an illegal attempt by the Trump administration to shut down the CFPB, the complaint said.

But Vought’s actions are merely the start of a process to “streamline” the CFPB’s work and bring it in line with Trump administration priorities, the CFPB said in its brief.

The CFPB is still conducting statutorily mandated business, such as maintaining its consumer complaint database and providing technical support for companies complying with the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, the brief said.

Any allegation that the Trump administration intends to completely shut down the CFPB is belied by President Donald Trump’s nomination of Jonathan McKernan on Feb. 11 to serve as the agency’s director, the CFPB brief said.

Any challenge to firings should be handled through the Federal Labor Relations Authority, the CFPB said. The agency cited a Feb. 20 ruling by Judge Christopher Cooper of the US District Court for the District of Columbia denying a bid from the NTEU and other unions to pause mass firings across the federal government.

Vought on Feb. 14 agreed to hold off on any additional firings and other actions while Judge Amy Berman Jackson considered the preliminary injunction motion.

He made a similar agreement in a case brought by the city of Baltimore seeking to block Vought from draining CFPB reserve accounts. A hearing on that case is scheduled for Wednesday.

Winding Down

Even with the pause on Vought’s plans to fire most CFPB employees and zero out its cash reserves, he has radically reshaped the agency and stopped all work.

The agency elected to cancel the lease on its Washington headquarters, although that cancellation has yet to be executed, according to a declaration from CFPB Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez submitted alongside the agency brief.

Vought has also fired 70 probationary employees and 70 to 100 “term employees” who had fixed end-dates on their contracts. Those included fellows, members of the director’s Financial Analyst Program, and technologists hired to study the impact of Big Tech on consumer finance.

Elon Musk’s X platform is creating a financial services platform that could have fallen under CFPB supervision if the agency wasn’t ordered to pause its work. Musk, the face of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, posted “CFPB RIP” with a tombstone emoji on Feb. 7, the day DOGE descended upon the agency.

Gupta Wessler LLP and Public Citizen Litigation Group represent the NTEU and other plaintiffs who joined the suit.

The case is NTEU v. Vought, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00381, Opposition to Motion for Preliminary Injunction 2/24/25.