On February 28, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland ordered to extend a temporary restraining order (TRO) for an additional 14 days in litigation brought by the Mayor and City Council of Baltimore against the CFPB (covered by InfoBytes here). The TRO prevented the Bureau from transferring or relinquishing control of its reserve funds, except for ordinary operating expenses, until March 14. The court’s decision came after the plaintiffs had filed supplemental declarations supporting their pending motion for preliminary injunction.
Specifically, the order prohibited the Bureau and its representatives from: (i) transferring money from the CFPB’s reserve funds except for ordinary operating obligations; (ii) relinquishing control or ownership of the Bureau’s reserve funds; (iii) returning reserve funds to the Fed or Treasury; and (iv) taking steps to reduce available Bureau funds below the amount available as of February 13. The court ordered defendants to respond to the plaintiffs’ supplemental declarations by March 6, with the restrictions applying to any successor occupying the Acting Director’s position.
