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The two Democratic NCUA board members ousted by President Trump without cause are asking the Supreme Court to consider their challenge of the firings on an expedited basis.
Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka are challenging their firings even though the Federal Credit Union Act, unlike some federal laws governing other financial regulators, does not state that members of the agency board may only be removed for cause.
The firings left one member on the NCUA board—Republican Chairman Kyle Hauptman.
"This case squarely implicates the historical tradition of insulating those who regulate banks and financial institutions, and who lend to those institutions and safeguard consumer deposits there," Harper and Otsuka said.
They added, "The NCUA Board is by no means the only multimember agency Congress has endowed with for-cause protection without using the words the Government claims to be necessary."
They said that while the NCUA board regulates credit unions subject to its oversight, it exercises the sort of powers exercised by the Federal Reserve Board with respect to financial institutions it supervises.
"If these powers are constitutionally suspect in the hands of the NCUA Board, they would be equally so in the hands of the Federal Reserve Board," Harper and Otsuka argued.
And they ask the court to consider their case when the court considers a case in which Rebecca Slaughter is challenging her firing by Trump from the FTC. The court has agreed to hear that case, with oral arguments scheduled for December.
"Immediate action is necessary to restore the functions of the NCUA Board and public confidence in the credit-union system," Harper and Otsuka said.
Judge Amir H. Ali, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia had determined that Harper and Otsuka could only be removed for cause.
Because no stay had been issued by the time of a July meeting, the two participated in that meeting.
Later, a temporary administrative hold and a stay was issued, while the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia considers the case.
The two Democrats stressed the urgency of the case.
"The NCUA Board thus lacks a quorum to adopt decisions necessary for the efficient regulation and stable operation of credit unions, including, most notably, to address the interest-rate ceiling that credit unions may charge," they said." This is a months-long process that, by statute, requires consultation with other financial regulators and careful assessments of money-market trends and risks to credit-union stability."
NCUA officials have stressed that the agency can operate as it normally does even if the board has only one member.
"Please be assured that the NCUA has precedent and standing delegations of authority in place to continue performing all operational and statutory requirements under the authority of a single Board Member," the agency said, following the firings.
During the George W. Bush administration, Dennis Dollar, who was chairman of the NCUA board, held a board meeting, voted and took several administrative and operational actions, after two members left the board, the agency said.
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