NEW ORLEANS—Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is backing a case that seeks to dissolve the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection.
The BCFP is seeking penalties against Mississippi-based payday lender All American Check Cashing, alleging it misled customers.
Paxton and 13 other states have filed a brief arguing the BCFP doesn't have constitutional authority to levy penalties, reported KUT.org.
In an announcement this week, Paxton called the Bureau a “rogue agency” that exceeds its constitutional authority.
“The (BCFP) operates like a branch of government unto itself, insulated from Congressional appropriations and presidential authority,” Paxton said in an email, according to KUT.org. “It’s unlawful structure allows for an unelected and unaccountable director to wield more power than anyone else in the U.S. government, except the president.”
Paxton’s filing with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals comes on the heels of a decision in the Southern District of New York that found the Bureau's structure unconstitutional. However, a decision by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this year upheld its constitutionality, with Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, writing a dissenting opinion.