No. 21-50826
34
Cf. New York v. United States, 505 U.S. 144, 182 (1992) (“The Constitution’s
division of power among the three branches is violated where one branch
invades the territory of another, whether or not the encroached-upon branch
approves the encroachment.”).
The converse argument, that Congress can alter the Bureau’s
perpetual self-funding scheme anytime it wants, curing any infirmity, is
likewise unavailing. “Congress is always capable of fixing statutes that
impinge on its own authority, but that possibility does not excuse the
underlying constitutional problems. Otherwise, no law could run afoul of
Article I.” All Am. Check Cashing, 33 F.4th at 238 (Jones, J. concurring); cf.
PHH Corp. v. CFPB, 881 F.3d 75, 158 (D.C. Cir. 2018) (en banc) (Henderson,
J., dissenting) (“[A]n otherwise invalid agency is no less invalid merely
because the Congress can fix it at some undetermined point in the future.”),
abrogated on other grounds by Seila Law, 140 S. Ct. 2183.
The Bureau also contends that because every court to consider its
funding structure has deemed it constitutionally sound, we should too.
15
But
carefully considering those decisions, we must respectfully disagree with
their conclusion. Those courts found the constitutional scale tipped in the
Bureau’s favor based largely on one factor: a handful of other agencies are
also self-funded. For instance, the D.C. Circuit emphasized that “Congress
has consistently exempted financial regulators from appropriations: The
Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of
15
See, e.g., PHH Corp., 881 F.3d at 95–96; CFPB v. Citizens Bank, N.A., 504 F.
Supp. 3d 39, 57 (D.R.I. 2020); CFPB v. Fair Collections & Outsourcing, Inc., No. 8:19-cv-
2817, 2020 WL 7043847, at *7-9 (D. Md. Nov. 30, 2020); CFPB v. Think Finance LLC, No.
17-cv-127, 2018 WL 3707911, at *1-2 (D. Mont. Aug. 3, 2018); CFPB v. Navient Corp., No.
3:17-cv-101, 2017 WL 3380530, at *16 (M.D. Pa. Aug. 4, 2017); CFPB v. ITT Educ. Services,
Inc., 219 F. Supp. 3d 878, 896-97 (S.D. Ind. 2015); CFPB v. Morgan Drexen, Inc., 60 F. Supp.
3d 1082, 1089 (C.D. Cal. 2014).
Case: 21-50826 Document: 00516514748 Page: 34 Date Filed: 10/19/2022