Judge Temporarily Halts Mass Layoffs and Shutdown at CFPB

The Trump administration’s efforts to restructure the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau face legal challenges and a court-ordered pause on employee terminations and data deletion.

• U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson has issued a temporary order blocking further layoffs at the CFPB and preventing the deletion of agency data until a March 3 hearing.
• The Trump administration, under acting CFPB Director Russell Vought, had initiated widespread layoffs, firing nearly 200 employees and halting the agency's operations.
• The CFPB's website is down, and its organizational chart has been removed, signaling significant disruption to its usual functions.
• Former CFPB Chief Technologist Erie Meyer warned in court filings of potential irreversible data loss, prompting the judge's intervention to safeguard records.
• The CFPB, established after the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers, faces an uncertain future as its funding and regulatory initiatives come under scrutiny from the administration.

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