Washington DC—On Thursday afternoon the advocacy group Democracy Forward achieved a victory in its epic battle against the Trump regime over its attempts to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
On Wednesday Democracy Forward filed suit against the Trump regime (case 1:25-cv-00458-ABA) over acting Director Russell Vought’s removal of funding for CFPB earmarked for its operations.
The current suit was brought before the U.S. District Court of the State of Maryland on behalf of the Mayor and the City of Baltimore by Democracy Forward and is a legal matter involving the CFPB acting Director, Russell Vought’s attempt to remove previously approved Congressional funding for CFPB operations for use other than for what it was approved.
The Trump Regime agreed to comply with the petitioner’s requests with the Court for a temporary restraining order in that acting Director, Russell Vought:
—will not transfer funds from the CFPB reserves
—will not give control of CFPB funds to any other party
—will not transfer CFPB funds back to the Federal Reserve, the independent parent agency that provides CFPB its funding
—will not reduce CFPB funds beyond what was available as of February 13
This development marks another victory, albeit temporary, for plaintiffs against the Trump regime and Elon Musk, the mega-billionaire involved in the takeover and takedown of many Federal government agencies. This also marks another set back in Elon Musk’s plans to deconstruct Federal government agencies. There are over 20 ongoing cases concurrently filed by organizations on behalf of Federal employees and the agencies currently under siege.
Another organization, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) 335 is pursuing another related matter on behalf of Federal employees of the CFPB involving the lockout and removal of over 1000 Federal employees from their workplaces. We have been reporting about this action since last weekend.
See previous reports here and here.
Elon Must has so far offered no public plan on replacing the Federal government agencies and services he has taken over and attempting to shut down. He has not indicated that he even plans to replace services at all. He stated in the Oval Office yesterday that his plans were transparent and available on his DOGE website but a visit to the site showed no plans and offered no vision other than his intent to deconstruct the Federal government.
The CFPB is the only agency that provides oversight on dishonest businesses and returns money fraudulently taken from consumers through the courts. The CFPB was created in 2011 under authority of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Consumer Protection Act in response to the 2007/8 financial meltdown. It is a bureau of the Federal Reserve.
