A federal judge on Friday, March 28, 2025, temporarily blocked former President Donald Trump’s team from dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)—a major agency that protects Americans from abusive banks, lenders, and financial scams.
The ruling came after Trump-aligned officials moved to fire most CFPB staff and cut off its funding. But U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a sweeping 112-page order halting those efforts, warning the damage could become irreversible before the courts even decide whether such actions are legal.
“The court has to act,” Judge Jackson wrote. “If I don’t, they’ll wipe out the CFPB before I can decide if it’s legal, and the damage can’t be fixed.”
Her order bars further firings (except for cause), freezes funding cuts, and prohibits deletion of agency records.
The effort to shut down the CFPB began earlier this year, with Trump-appointed Russell Vought—now serving as acting head of the bureau—directing staff to stop all enforcement, investigations, and rulemaking. He also refused to accept the agency’s next scheduled funding installment from the Federal Reserve, which finances the bureau independently from Congress.
Trump has repeatedly called the CFPB a “woke” agency that unfairly targets businesses and has declared it “very important to get rid of.” Vought echoed that, saying the agency wastes taxpayer money and targets companies it dislikes.
Already, over 70 full-time employees and more than 100 contract staff had been fired. Officials even attempted to cancel the CFPB’s lease on its Washington headquarters.
In response, CFPB employees and their union sued, arguing that only Congress has the power to dismantle a federal agency created by law. The CFPB was established in 2011 after the 2008 financial crisis, with the goal of protecting consumers from deceptive lending practices and banking abuses.
In her ruling, Judge Jackson highlighted the real-life impact of the attempted shutdown—pointing to the story of Eva Steege, an 83-year-old pastor in hospice care. The CFPB had determined she didn’t owe her student loan debt and was due a $15,000 refund. But after her caseworker was fired and her file left unresolved, Steege died on March 15, with her family still burdened by the debt.
“That’s why this matters,” Jackson wrote, underscoring the urgency of her decision.
The CFPB has long been a political flashpoint. Supporters, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who helped create it, say it’s critical for protecting regular people from powerful financial institutions. Opponents like Vought argue the agency has too much power and lacks accountability.
“If they kill this, Wall Street can cheat you again,” Warren warned in a recent video.
Since its founding, the CFPB has helped return billions of dollars to consumers harmed by illegal banking and lending practices.
Judge Jackson’s ruling is a temporary block that preserves the agency while a broader legal fight unfolds. A full hearing is scheduled for March 3, where the court will consider whether the Trump team’s actions are constitutional.
Until then, the CFPB’s 1,700 employees are protected from further firings, and its records are safe from deletion.
“This is a win for people, not banks,” one CFPB employee told reporters anonymously, fearing retaliation.
Trump’s team is expected to continue pushing for the agency’s elimination, but for now, the watchdog survives.