February 9, 2026 | WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of dozens veterans and national, state, and local nonprofit groups submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in NTEU v. Vought, a case challenging efforts by Acting Director Russell Vought and the Trump Administration to shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The full D.C. Circuit is poised to hear the case later this month following a successful petition from the National Treasury Employees Union.

Veterans rights and consumer and civil rights advocates are sounding the alarm that efforts to dismantle the CFPB amount to debt cancellation for large, powerful banks. By attempting to shut down the CFPB, the Administration would effectively erase consequences for financial institutions accused of cheating customers—while leaving ordinary people with nowhere to turn.

The groups told the full D.C. Circuit: 

“The actions at issue here amount to an effort to accomplish administratively what could not be accomplished legislatively: the dismantling of an agency created to protect Americans from financial harm. Defendants’ conduct undermines the public interest in a transparent and fair financial system, and it imposes significant harms on the particular constituencies the CFPB must serve—as well as the broader public. Defendants’ actions also strike at the heart of the constitutional balance of powers, violating the principle that no branch of government may usurp the core functions of another.”

The brief explains that Congress created the CFPB in 2010 after unchecked predatory practices in the residential mortgage market wiped out $11 trillion in household wealth and triggered the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. To prevent another collapse, lawmakers empowered the CFPB to oversee the nation’s vast consumer financial marketplace, maintain stability, and enforce critical federal protections. They also directed the CFPB to protect particular groups that are especially vulnerable to financial scams and abuse, including servicemembers and senior citizens. Congress further enshrined in law the CFPB’s landmark consumer complaint database, a unique mechanism that allows consumers to submit their claims of fraud and abuse and resolve them informally with financial companies without the expense of litigation. The complaint database has processed nearly 13 million complaints since it launched in 2011. 

This entire agency could disappear if the Administration is allowed to carry out its plan. As the Supreme Court itself recognized a few years ago, eliminating the CFPB “would trigger a major regulatory disruption and would leave appreciable damage to Congress’s work in the consumer-finance arena.”

Yet, the amicus brief explains, that is precisely what defendants attempted to do—deliberately orchestrating a plan “to shut the agency down entirely and to do it fast.” This brief will, we hope, help keep that from happening.

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About Protect Borrowers

Protect Borrowers (formerly Student Borrower Protection Center) is a nonprofit organization led by a team of experts, lawyers, and advocates fighting to build an economy where debt doesn’t limit opportunity. We investigate financial abuses, take predatory companies to court, and push for policies to protect working people from debt traps. We aim to deliver immediate relief to families while building power, driving systemic change, and fighting for racial and economic justice.

Learn more at protectborrowers.org or follow us on social @BorrowerJustice.

About the UC Berkeley Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice

The Center for Consumer Law & Economic Justice at U.C. Berkeley School of Law is the leading law school research and advocacy center dedicated to ensuring safe, equal, and fair access to the marketplace. The Center works to create a society where economic security and opportunity are available to all.

Learn more at consumerlaw.berkeley.edu or follow on X @UCBConsumerLaw, BlueSky @ucbconsumerlaw.bsky.social, LinkedIn @berkeley-center-for-consumer-law-economic-justice

About Tzedek DC

Drawing from the Jewish teachings of “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” Tzedek DC(link is external)’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with low incomes dealing with the often devastating consequences of abusive debt collection practices and other consumer related issues.

Learn more at www.tzedekdc.org(link is external) or at LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Bluesky, or Instagram.