CFPB staff layoffs can proceed, appeals court rules

Source: NPR

Updated August 15, 2025 3:35 PM ET


A three-judge federal appeals court panel has ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's attempt to lay off the vast majority of its employees can proceed. The case concerns the reduction in force that the Trump administration conducted at the bureau in mid-April, in which layoff notices were sent to more than 1,400 staffers, leaving only about 200 employees remaining.

In a 2-1 ruling on Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit says the Trump administration may continue its dismantling of the bureau. "We hold that the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider the claims predicated on loss of employment, which must proceed through the specialized-review scheme established in the Civil Service Reform Act," Judge Gregory Katsas wrote for the majority. The ruling vacates a preliminary injunction that had blocked the layoffs.

But Judge Nina Pillard disagreed. "It is untenable to hold that same Congress meant the agency's continued existence to be a matter of unilateral and unexplained presidential edict," she wrote in the dissenting opinion. "Had the district court not acted, there is very little reason to believe that the CFPB would have existed by the end of March," she continued.

Pillard was nominated to her post by former President Obama, while Katsas and Judge Neomi Rao were nominated by President Trump.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/15/nx-s1-5403868/appeals-court-ruling-cfpb-layoffs