Judge blocks firing of 90% of CFPB staff, at least for now, as she studies whether action violates previous order

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s plan to fire approximately 1,500 staff – about 90% — at the federal consumer financial protection agency Friday, saying she was considering whether the action violated a previous order she had issued.

The Trump administration sent layoff notices the previous day to a large group of employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). At the Friday hearing, Federal District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson prevented the agency from cutting off the agency’s employees from their computer access. That cutoff had been planned later in the day.

The union representing agency workers – the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) – and others had warned the firings could run afoul of Jackson’s earlier order blocking the White House efforts to wind down the agency.

An appeals court had partially paused Jackson’s order, which apparently the Trump administration read as a avenue to begin the layoffs. Jackson, however, has signaled that may not be the case, at least as of Friday afternoon.

Ranking Member Maxine Waters’ Statement on Ruling Blocking Trump Administration’s Illegal Firing of Nearly All CFPB Employees