President Donald Trump's administration was back in court Monday to justify its actions in dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
The union representing CFPB workers sued to stop the bureau from being shut down as part of Trump's government-wide cuts.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who presided over the hearing, expressed concern that the agency will be "choked out of existence before I get to rule on the merits," said Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney.
“We can’t have edicts issued with people’s fingers crossed behind their backs,” Jackson told the Trump Justice Department lawyer.
Evan Weinberger, a banking reporter at Bloomberg Law, posted updates during the hearing from a call-in line, marveled at how poorly the hearing with Jackson seemed to be going for the DOJ attorneys.
ALSO READ: RFK Jr's top spokesman abruptly quits after two weeks on the job
"Man, this is embarrassing for this Justice Department guy," commented Weinberger.
At one point Jackson asked whether the new Trump administration objected to the CFPB's stated mission of "protecting consumers from unfair, deceptive, and abusive practices."
The DOJ confessed it didn't know, which lead to 'laughter ensuing" in the courthouse, wrote Weinberger.
Washington Post reporter Andrew Ackerman observed that the "Justice Department attorneys were on the defensive for most of this 10 a.m. court hearing." Jackson seemed "inclined to grant a preliminary injunction to prevent mass firings," he said.
The DOJ lawyers said they would comply with the court order but called it "akin to wholesale supervision of the agency's management."
Jackson responded that it's an interim oversight to "ensure the CFPB isn't choked out of existence before ruling on the merits of the lawsuit," Akerman reported.
Jackson hasn't ruled on the matter yet.
