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National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), National Consumer Law Center, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Virginia Poverty Law Center, CFPB Employee Association, and Pastor Eva Steege Join in Bringing the Case

For Immediate Release: February 13, 2025 

Contact: Mike Givens mike.givens@nteu.org

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) with Public Citizen Litigation Group and Gupta Wessler LLP, filed a lawsuit against President Trump, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought, to challenge the unlawful dismantling of the CFPB.

Established by Congress in response to the 2008 financial crisis, the CFPB is tasked with overseeing financial institutions and protecting consumers from predatory practices. Since its inception, the agency has recovered billions of dollars for American citizens and helped create a fairer, more transparent financial marketplace. Congress exercised its constitutional authority to regulate commerce when it created the CFPB, ensuring that it operates independently to fulfill its mandate.

In defiance of Congress’s role in our constitutional system and the separation of powers, President Trump has openly declared his intent to “totally eliminate” the CFPB, and the defendants are acting quickly to carry out that direction. Their actions have caused mass confusion and imposed significant and irreparable harm on consumers across the country.

The lawyers representing the plaintiffs are asking for a temporary restraining order that would keep employees on the job, as intended when Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act and created the CFPB. CFPB employees are public servants dedicated to being a watchdog against financial fraud and abuse and educating Americans about their rights as consumers.

NTEU represents more than 1,000 frontline employees. “We will not stand by and let this administration destroy the agency that protects seniors, veterans, active-duty military and all American consumers,” said NTEU National President Doreen Greenwald. “The employees of the CFPB are nonpartisan professionals who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, and they believe in the mission of their agency. Locking them out of their jobs or firing them is a gift to predatory lenders and unscrupulous actors who prey on consumers.”

Commenting on the lawsuit, Public Citizen Litigation Group director Allison Zieve said: “The Trump administration is upending the lives of employees, depriving researchers and the public of important information, and devastating the ability of legal services organizations that depend on the CFPB to provide consumers with the help exercising their rights.”

Deepak Gupta, founding principal of Gupta Wessler LLP and former senior counsel at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, shared: “This a tragedy for American consumers, and it is lawless. The Bureau was created by Congress to ensure a fair marketplace and protect the financial security of everyday Americans, helping them avoid fraud, predatory lending, and abusive financial practices. The President and his acting director lack the authority to suspend the agency’s work, defund its operations, or halt enforcement of consumer protection laws. We seek an immediate order restoring the CFPB’s operations and emergency relief to prevent further harm to consumers.”