Federal judge blocks Trump from dismantling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: 'The court can and must act'

Another federal judge had ruled against the Trump administration, this time to block the shuttering of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a preliminary injunction Friday and will rule on the merits of the lawsuit to keep the CFPB open. Berman said without the injunction that the administration would move quickly to shut down the agency before the judge could make a full ruling.

'This fight isn't over. The case will continue in court.'

“If the defendants are not enjoined, they will eliminate the agency before the Court has the opportunity to decide whether the law permits them to do it, and as the defendants’ own witness warned, the harm will be irreparable,” said Berman Jackson.

CFPB chief operating officer Adam Martinez testified that the agency had initially fired 70 employees and canceled $100 million in contracts.

The lawsuit was filed by the National Treasury Employees Union to block the mass firings, claiming that the president did not have the proper authority to shut down an agency created by congressional vote.

Plaintiffs' attorney Deepak Gupta praised the ruling.

"This ruling upholds the Constitution’s separation of powers and preserves the Bureau’s vital work," he said. “We’re heartened by the decision and look forward to continuing to press our case in court."

Democrat Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who was instrumental in the creation of the CFPB, also defended the ruling.

"Today a court blocked co-Presidents Trump and Musk from shutting down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This fight isn't over," said Warren. "The case will continue in court, and all of us need to keep fighting for the agency that has returned $21 billion to families who were scammed."

Trump's agenda has been stymied by numerous rulings from federal judges, leading some in the administration to call for judicial impeachments in protest of what they say is politically motivated abuse of the legal system. Critics say such an action would result in a constitutional crisis and exhort Trump to follow the appeal process instead.

Berman Jackson was nominated to the court by former President Barack Obama in 2010.

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