Progressive Groups Want Justice Kavanaugh to Recuse Himself in CFPB Case
Several groups argue that Kavanaugh cannot fairly hear the case due to a ruling he made as a lower court judge.
A coalition of progressive groups is asking U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh to recuse himself from a high-profile case that will decide whether the structure of the CFPB is constitutional.
Demand Justice, Demand Progress Education Fund, Revolving Door Project, and Allied Progress argue that Kavanaugh cannot fairly judge the case, since as a lower court judge, he ruled in a separate lawsuit that the structure of the agency flies in the face of the Constitutional.
“We call on Justice Kavanaugh to recuse himself from hearing a case on which he has already made up his mind,” the coalition said.
The Supreme Court has agreed to consider the case in which Seila Law, a law firm is challenging whether the agency structure is constitutional, since it is governed by a single director who only may be removed for cause.
CUNA has filed an amicus brief arguing that the agency structure violates the constitution.
The progressive coalition said that in 2016 and 2018, Kavanaugh, who was then a judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, said he believed the CFPB was “unconstitutionally structured.”
And they cited one part of the opinion in which Kavanaugh wrote, “the single-Director structure of the CFPB represents a gross departure from settled historical practice. Never before has an independent agency exercising substantial executive authority been headed by just one person.”
The groups said that federal law clearly states that judges should recuse themselves when their impartiality could reasonably be questioned.
“Brett Kavanaugh has already ruled on the underlying legal question in this case,” they said. “He cannot plausibly claim to be open to arguments from both sides.”