Credit Union National Association (CUNA), joined by the American Association of Credit Union Leagues (AACUL) and National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU), filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) v. Community Financial Services Association of America. The lawsuit deals with the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding mechanism, and CUNA has long supported placing the bureau under the appropriations process.

“The broad power of the CFPB wields over financial products that affect every consumer makes it especially important the bureau operate with maximum transparency and accountability,” said CUNA President/CEO Jim Nussle. “Its current structure brings it under less oversight than any other federal financial regulator, and we hope the court’s decision addresses the clear constitutional issues in the current structure, and that its decision while minimizing disruptions to the financial services marketplace as we suggest in our brief."

“For well over a decade, NAFCU has fought against the overly burdensome regulations from the CFPB on behalf of the 137 million people who rely on credit unions for their financial service needs,” said NAFCU President and CEO Dan Berger. “We have seen the agency wage a war on Main Street and impose rules that do more harm than good. It’s well past time to get them in check and give the CFPB long needed congressional oversight. I look forward to the Court hearing this critical case.”

The brief calls for the court to affirm the lower court’s decision – that the CFPB’s funding structure violates the Constitution - but issue a stay to minimize market disruptions, giving Congress time to fix the funding issue and create a constitutionally sound structure for the bureau. The organizations note the CFPB is structured differently than all other financial regulators, including the National Credit Union Association which is funded by credit unions and provides regulation and services to credit unions.

“Eliminating the agency from the regulatory ecosystem overnight would be dangerous and create uncertainty,” the brief reads. “For this reason, the least disruptive remedy is for the Court to stay its judgment in the case for three to six months and leave the appropriations process to Congress.”

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the CFPB’s funding mechanism unconstitutional in an October 2022 decision, and the U.S Supreme Court announced in February it would hear the challenge.

CFPB Director Rohit Chopra appeared onstage with Nussle at the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference the day the Supreme Court accepted the challenge.

Chopra stated he looked forward to the court’s decision providing certainty to CFPB rulemakings.