Appeals Court Overturns Temporary Ban on Firing CFPB Employees

A federal appeals court ruled Friday (Aug. 15) that a lower court lacked the jurisdiction to temporarily block President Donald Trump’s firings of employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

The decision overturned a trial court’s decision in April that halted the dismissal of 1,500 CFPB employees, Reuters reported Friday (Aug. 15).

However, the appeals court said that its decision would not take effect immediately and that lawyers representing CFPB workers and consumer organizations could take their case to the full court of appeals, according to the report.

The ruling was decided on a 2-to-1 vote, with two judges finding that the lower court acted outside its authority, and one judge finding that it had acted properly, per the report.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi wrote in a Friday post on social platform X that the court’s decision sided with Department of Justice attorneys “in our effort to dismantle the CFPB and rein in crippling Obama-era regulations.”

Another victory for President Trump!

In a 2-1 ruling, the DC Circuit sided with my @TheJusticeDept attorneys in our effort to dismantle the CFPB and rein in crippling Obama-era regulations.

We will continue to pursue the President’s deregulation efforts.

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 15, 2025

In another post on X, Bondi said: “The CFPB is now free to right-size itself in accordance with the law to best serve the American people.”

The CFPB is now free to right-size itself in accordance with the law to best serve the American people.

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 15, 2025

National Treasury Employees Union President Doreen Greenwald said in a Friday statement that the appeals court’s decision “overturned a well-reasoned preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that forbade the CFPB from conducting reductions in force and ceasing the statutorily mandated operations of the bureau.”

The CFPB has faced an unprecedented period of upheaval since the transition from the President Joe Biden administration to the Trump administration, PYMNTS reported in May.

In February, Acting Director Russell Vought ordered the agency to halt nearly all operations and return unspent money to the Federal Reserve, criticizing its budget as excessive.

Later that month, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from deleting CFPB data, firing employees (except for cause), and returning the agency’s funding to the Fed.

In April, CFPB leadership announced the plans to lay off nearly 1,500 of the bureau’s 1,700 employees. An internal memo signaled a scale-back of supervision, enforcement and regulatory priorities, with a focus only on depository institutions and a retreat from nonbank oversight.

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