A law firm fighting a Civil Investigative Demand from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau plans to appeal a ruling that the agency’s leadership structure is constitutional to the Supreme Court, the firm announced in a filing with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday.
Last month, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the leadership structure of the CFPB is constitutional and affirmed a lower court’s ruling that the law firm comply with the CID that was seeking information about the firm’s debt relief practices.
Mentioning that Justice Brett Kavanaugh argued that he though the leadership structure of the CFPB is unconstitutional in a dissenting opinion while he was an Appeals Court judge, and citing a rift at the Appellate Court level on the topic, the law firm sought to have the Ninth Circuit stay its ruling so that it could file a petition with the Supreme Court to hear its case.
The firm will now have to file its petition and make its case why the Supreme Court should hear arguments on the topic.
Both the U.S. Government and the CFPB have indicated that the Supreme Court will ultimately have to settle the matter of whether the single director leadership structure is constitutional, absent legislative action, and Seila thinks that its case is the one that should bring the debate to Washington, D.C.