US appeals court blocks Trump admin from enacting new plans to slash consumer watchdog staff
June 19 (Reuters) – A federal appeals court on Friday blocked the Trump administration’s plans to immediately cut the workforce at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau by nearly two-thirds, dealing a setback to the White House’s protracted efforts to shrink the consumer watchdog.
The order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit came in response to a revised plan the Justice Department filed in late March following repeated legal defeats over its plans to eliminate, if not eliminate, the CFPB.
The appeals court was reviewing the administration’s appeal of a March 2025 preliminary injunction issued by a federal district court judge temporarily banning mass layoffs.
The Ministry of Justice, which had previously tried to cut up to 90 percent of employees, had argued that it should be allowed to implement its new plan immediately.
He also argued that the case should be sent to the district judge with a 45-day period to reconsider the preliminary injunction.
The appeals court on Friday granted the administration’s request to send the case to the district court, but rejected requests to reinstate staff cuts or give the district judge time.
The CFPB was created by Congress to oversee consumer financial products following the 2008 financial crash.
Trump and other senior officials have called for the agency to be abolished, accusing it of being a politicized burden on free enterprise. Democrats and corporate advocates say undermining the agency amounts to a gift to industry at the expense of consumers.
Legally prohibited from taking the harshest measures, the administration took other measures to weaken the institution.
In May, the agency announced it would reassign all of its staff to its Washington headquarters; it was a move that would likely lead to resignations. Earlier this month, Trump nominated a vocal CFPB critic for the agency’s progress.
(Reporting by Kenrick Cai in San Francisco; Editing by Don Durfee and Andrea Ricci)
