Fannie and Freddie Overseer’s Appointment Deemed Constitutional

The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was serving constitutionally when he made a deal with the Treasury Department to help the mortgage giants, the Sixth Circuit ruled on Tuesday.

Shareholders for the publicly traded companies sued, arguing they were harmed by the 2012 agreement—the third in a series of agreements meant to shore up the imperiled Fannie and Freddie, which were battered during the housing-driven recession of 2007. Dubbed the “third amendment” and signed by Acting Director Edward DeMarco, the agreement gave the government almost all of Fannie and ...