Even if the Republican majorities in Congress aren’t expressing much concern about President Donald Trump usurping their power, thank goodness the courts are.
Since winning the presidency for the second time, Trump and his inner circle have been acting as if they command both the executive and legislative branches as they try to dismantle programs and agencies created by Congress.
Impacted federal employees and program beneficiaries both have been suing to stop this unconstitutional power grab. For the most part the federal courts have been ruling for the plaintiffs.
A recent case was Friday’s decision by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to block the Trump administration, at least for now, from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
That agency was created during the 2008 financial crisis that came close to pushing this country into a second Great Depression. That near calamity was spurred largely by the greed and carelessness of financial institutions in their mortgage practices. It took a $700 billion bailout by the federal government to avoid a complete economic collapse.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is designed to protect consumers from financial fraud and deceptive practices. Conservatives who believe the federal government has gone overboard with its regulations cite the CFPB as an example.
If the agency has outlived its usefulness, that’s not Trump’s or Elon Musk’s call to make. It’s the responsibility of Congress to make that determination. The courts are correct to tell the executive branch to stay in its lane.
