CFPB Mass Firing Plan, Union Challenge Weighed by Appeals Panel

Mass layoffs targeting 90% of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau staff divided judges on a federal appeals panel Friday grappling with whether to overturn a lower court order blocking the firings.

Trump administration CFPB leaders and members of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency made a series of moves to start tearing down the consumer finance watchdog and fire most of its staff, prompting a legal challenge from CFPB employees and consumer groups and a preliminary injunction in March from Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

But the plaintiffs—led by the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents most CFPB workers—haven’t shown that ...