(Politico) - The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday issued an order rebuking the Trump administration’s efforts to defund and shutter the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Earlier in the month, the D.C. Circuit of Appeals agreed to hear an ongoing lawsuit brought by the National Treasury Employees Union, representing CFPB employees, against OMB director and acting CFPB director Russ Vought. The federal appeals court upheld an injunction from the district court ahead of a February hearing, stating that the Trump administration must cease its efforts to shutter the bureau while the case is ongoing.
In the case, Vought and the Trump administration have argued that requesting funds from the Federal Reserve, which provides resources to the agency at the director’s request, would be against the CFPB’s founding rules, as the central bank had not been running at a profit. Without a new infusion of funds, the bureau will likely run out of funds sometime in the next month.
On Tuesday, the district court issued a clarification of the injunction, stating that the agency must continue to be funded up until the appeals court hearing in February.
The district court judge also cast doubt on Vought’s broader argument, stating that the “lapse” in funding was “manufactured by the defendants” and is “not a valid justification for the agency’s unilateral decision to abandon its obligations,” pointing out that the Federal Reserve has provided funding seamlessly to the bureau since 2011, even in the years since 2022 when it did not turn a profit.
The Federal Reserve started running at a profit for the first time since 2022 in early December.
By Aiden Reiter
December 30, 2025
