Leandra English, the deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has taken the next step in trying to legally claim the director’s position at the agency, by appealing a ruling denying her request for a preliminary injunction to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
English is seeking to have the court system assert her claim that she should be the acting director of the agency and not Mick Mulvaney, who was appointed by President Trump in the hours after former director Richard Cordray resigned on Nov. 24. English is claiming the language in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform & Consumer Protection Act is what should be used in determining the rightful acting director, while the president is relying on the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. So far, a federal judge has denied a request for a temporary restraining order and denied a request for a preliminary injunction in English’s suit.
English has request an expedited review of her appeal, given that Mulvaney’s term as acting director can last no longer than 210 days. The notice of appeal was filed last Friday, two days after Judge Timothy Kelly denied the request for the preliminary injunction.
“Until the full judicial process has run its course, the Bureau’s employees, the companies it regulates, and millions of American consumers will continue to suffer under a cloud of disruptive legal uncertainty,” wrote English and her legal team, led by Deepak Gupta, in her appeal notice to the D.C. Circuit.
The D.C. Circuit Court is also where ACA International has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Communications Commission, accusing the agency of overstepping its constitutional authority in making changes to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. That lawsuit was filed in July 2015 and arguments in the case were heard in October 2016 yet no ruling has been issued.
