The Donald Trump administration is likely to be headed to the courts again, this time over the leadership of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This was an agency set up to police the consumer financial markets and protect the rights of consumers against big banks and was championed by senator Elizabeth Warren as one means of preventing another financial crisis. Its first director Richard Cordray was quite effective in that role but his term ended in 2018 and he wanted to step down this year, reportedly to run for the governorship of Ohio.

Donald Trump and the oligarchy absolutely hates the CFPB because it slightly hinders their ability to rip off people and so Trump was planning to do what he does with every agency whose mission he loathes, and that is appoint as its head someone opposed to the mission itself so that the person can undermine it from the inside. In the case of the CFPB, Trump was planning to appoint his budget director Mick Mulvaney, a political hack and a complete pawn of business, as acting director when Cordray stepped down. You can see why Trump thought Mulvaney was good for the job.

But Cordray, in his last act before leaving yesterday, appointed a career professional Leandra English as deputy director and according to the law creating the CFPB, that person automatically becomes acting director in the case of a vacancy at the top.

But Trump has gone ahead and appointed Mulvaney anyway so now there are two acting directors and the issue will likely go to the courts to see who should be the rightful head.