A legal struggle is unfolding over control of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sparked by Richard Cordray’s resignation as director last week. Leandra English, the agency’s deputy director (promoted by Cordray) says she’s in charge, but President Trump says that his pick to run the agency, Mick Mulvaney, is the acting director. A federal district judge in Washington, D.C., will adjudicate these claims imminently, leaving Mulvaney or English as the agency’s temporary head—at least until an appeals court weighs in.

On its surface, the struggle for control of the agency is a question of law—or more specifically, a question of which of two laws takes precedence over the other. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 says that the president “may direct” any Senate-confirmed official to head an agency in the event of a vacancy. (Mulvaney qualifies because the Senate voted 51–49 in February to confirm him as director of the Office of Management and Budget.) The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 says that the deputy director of the CFPB becomes “acting Director in the absence or unavailability of the Director.” The question for the courts is whether the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, which gives the president the power of temporary appointment, takes precedence over the Dodd-Frank Act, which seems to imply that the deputy director’s ascension is automatic.

As I’ve written, there’s a good argument that the Dodd-Frank Act yields to the Federal Vacancies Reform Act. But while this statutory dispute is fascinating to law professors like me, whether the CFPB remains a robust champion of consumer interests does not depend on whether Mulvaney or English emerges victorious from this legal battle. Ultimately, the agency’s 1,700-plus employees will do more than any judge to determine the bureau’s fate.

Read more at The Atlantic