Giving the president the ability to remove at will the consumer bureau’s director — currently Richard Cordray, who was appointed<br />by President Barack Obama — would be a sufficient remedy, Justice Department lawyers wrote in an amicus brief.<br />Ari Karen, a lawyer who represents financial companies, said the Justice Department’s move to support PHH “is a sign of bigger things to come.” If the court granted the president the power to fire Mr. Cordray at will, he<br />and others expected that Mr. Trump would do so immediately.<br />“There is no evidence that Congress would have preferred no bureau at all to a bureau<br />whose director was removable at will,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in the brief.<br />The Justice Department brief was filed as part of continuing litigation between the PHH Corporation, a mortgage lender,<br />and the consumer bureau, which in 2015 levied a $109 million fine against the company over what the agency said were illegal kickbacks.<br />Argues -<br />By STACY COWLEYMARCH 17, 2017<br />The Justice Department on Friday took the rare step of opposing another federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, in court, arguing<br />that the bureau’s structure is unconstitutional and should be changed.
