Instead of subjecting the bureau to annual budget fights on Capitol Hill like most of the government, the CFPB is funded through the Federal Reserve − an effort to shield it from political pressure. Critics said the arrangement violated the Constitution and the principle that Congress alone wields the power of the purse.
The 7-2 decision was a victory for the Biden administration which had asked the court to overturn a conservative appeals court decision invalidating the funding mechanism.
Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said funding doesn’t have to come through the congressional appropriation process. An appropriation, he wrote, “is simply a law that authorizes expenditures from a specified source of public money for designated purposes.”