Bringing PHH Full Circle: The Supreme Court's Decision in Seila Law

This article addresses the US Supreme Court's decision in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Fin. Prot. Bureau, __ U.S. __, 140 S. Ct. 2183 ( June 29, 2020), which bookends the DC Circuit's previous decision in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, (which was the subject of a previous article titled "Practical Takeaways from the D.C. Circuit's Decision in PHH Corp. v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau"). The article discusses the problems the DC Circuit's panel (headed by then Judge Kavanaugh) saw with the constitutional structure of the CFPB, which featured heavily in the majority opinion in Seila Law (which was joined by now Justice Kavanaugh), as well as the implications of the Supreme Court's decision, which found the structure to be unconstitutional but remediable by severing the provisions that insulated the CFPB's director from removal at will by the President.