By Jerri-Lynn Scofield, who has worked as a securities lawyer and a derivatives trader. She is currently writing a book about textile artisans.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) did not cover itself in glory even before the hostile Trump became President and started actively opposing its efforts. In fact, under its first director, Richard Cordray, the bureau fumbled its biggest opportunity, its attempt to ban pre-dispute mandatory arbitration agreements. After withering and dithering, in 2017 the CFPB adopted the Arbitration Agreements Rule “[banning] companies from using mandatory arbitration clauses to deny groups of people their day in court.”
Alas, the agency’s delay in promulgating the rule until well into the Trump administration meant it was soon overturned under the provisions of the Congressional Review Act (CRA), as I wrote in RIP, Mandatry Arbitration Ban: