Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Nationwide Biweekly Administration

Background

The parties jointly submitted a case-management conference statement. They agreed that briefing should proceed on the “Seila Law” and restitution issues, but disagreed about whether briefing on the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) funding mechanism should wait for the Supreme Court’s anticipated decision in Community Financial Services Association of America, Ltd. v. CFPB. They also disagreed about page limits.

Order

The court vacated the case-management conference scheduled for May 18, 2023. It ordered the following briefing schedule:

- By June 29, 2023, defendants had to file an opening brief of no more than 35 pages on the Seila Law issue identified in the Ninth Circuit’s memorandum disposition. - By June 29, 2023, defendants had to file an opening brief of no more than 35 pages on the constitutionality of the CFPB’s funding mechanism identified in that memorandum disposition. - By June 29, 2023, the CFPB had to file an opening brief of no more than 25 pages on the restitution issue identified in the memorandum disposition. - By August 3, 2023, the parties had to file oppositions, each within the page limit for the corresponding opening brief. - By September 7, 2023, the parties could file reply briefs of no more than 15 pages each.

Disposition and significance

The court did not postpone briefing on the CFPB funding-constitutionality issue, although it reserved discretion to defer issuing a decision until the Supreme Court ruled. The court stated that the matter might later be set for a hearing at its discretion. This was a procedural scheduling order; the opinion did not decide the merits of the Seila Law, restitution, or funding-constitutionality issues. Judge Richard Seeborg signed the order.