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The Chief Operating Officer of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Adam Martinez, said in an affidavit that orders from Acting Director (and Director of the Office of Management and Budget) Russell Vought and the CFPB chief legal officer indicate that CFPB will not be shut down. He also said that the agency on February 27 “activated work related to compliance with the agency’s critical statutory responsibilities in the area of the Office of Consumer Response.” Martinez notes that these activities represent a shift: In the middle of February, he had discussed “the closure of the agency” and CFPB’s “wind down mode.” (Affidavit.) (Kyle Cheney on X.)
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday invoked “emergency authorities” to bypass a congressional review process and “expedite the delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.” Rubio’s invocation of “emergency authorities” appears to be in reference to the “emergency” exception in Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, which, according to Scott Anderson, “allows the president (or designees) to bypass congressional certification whenever they assert that ‘an emergency exists which requires the proposed [arms sale] in the national security interests of the United States.’” (Rubio statement.) (NYT.) (Anderson’s quoted piece in Lawfare.)
A new federal court lawsuit challenged the Trump administration’s policy of sending migrants to Guantanamo Bay. Plaintiffs claim that this policy exceeds the president’s statutory authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act and the Fifth Amendment. (Complaint.) (NYT.)
Bob Bauer argued in these pages that “Donald Trump’s rejection of norms against a politicized Department of Justice provides him with the means of applying extraordinary pressures to keep Congress in line.”
Ilya Somin asserted that the “unitary executive theory cannot be accepted in a world where the federal government wields vastly greater power than it is supposed to have under the original meaning.” (The Volokh Conspiracy.)
Adrian Vermeule highlighted a statement from Justice Scalia in a 1988 dissent counseling restraint when reviewing presidential actions that Vermuele argues should inform the approach taken by courts today. (The New Digest.)
Jonathan Adler examined a statement from Seila Law v. CFPB that may shed light on how the Supreme Court is likely to rule in Hampton Dellinger’s case. And Josh Blackman thinks the Court is going to “hold that the removal of Dellinger was unlawful but the Court lacks the power of reinstatement.” (The Volokh Conspiracy, Adler and Blackman.)
In case you missed it over the weekend, here is yesterday’s (more news heavy) Morning Roundup.