The arrests of Don Lemon and Georgia Fort reflect an American legacy of targeting the Black press.

The phrase habeas corpus may sound like something out of a dusty law textbook or a historical drama, but it remains one of the most powerf...

Lansing — Attorney General Dana Nessel warned Michigan residents Monday that the dismantling of the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau leaves Michigan particularly vulnerable because of the weakness of the state's consumer protection law. Michigan’s Consumer Protection Act was reined in significantly in 1999 and 2007 by a series of court decisions that held the state can’t pursue cases against businesses already regulated under federal law. Since those decisions, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has played a critical role in filling in the gaps left by Michigan’s statute, Nessel said in a Monday press conference. But President Donald Trump’s cuts to the bureau mean the agency won’t be able to aid Michigan in the same way, she said. "Whether you know it not, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has had your back for years and delivered justice and, of course, billions and billions of dollars to millions of defrauded consumers all throughout the nation," Nessel said. "We simply and very literally cannot afford to lose to the CFPB." Nessel has sought to overturn the 1999 and 2007 court decisions inhibiting the state's consumer protection law. The Michigan Supreme Court has been mulling over her latest efforts to overturn the case law since October. The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created after the 2008 financial crisis and says it has returned about $20 billion to consumers in the roughly 13 years since it began. But the White House, shortly after Trump took office, called the 1,700-person agency "woke" and "weaponized." It ordered the bureau to stop almost all of its work on Feb. 9. Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought has called the bureau's annual $711 million budget "excessive." Rohib Chopra, the former director of the bureau under Democratic President Joe Biden, argued during Monday's press conference that the 2008 financial crisis was a wake-up call regarding the federal government's role in protecting consumers. Since then, the agency has buckled down on protecting against illegal foreclosures, auto repossessions or student loan defaults and been instrumental in states like Michigan, Chopra said. "In some states like Michigan, we don’t have strong state laws that allow the state attorney general and its citizens to take businesses and fraudsters to court when they break the law," Chopra said. Chopra's participation in Monday's press conference was paid for by the Progressive Change Institute, a liberal nonprofit that's been instrumental in protesting Trump administration cuts. Former East Lansing Mayor Aaron Stephens, who works in government affairs for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, also spoke at the press conference. Reason magazine, a libertarian publication, noted that the bureau's director can't be fired by the president and gets its budget funding from the Federal Reserve's earnings, making it "an unelected regulator with a blank check." The publication also noted the bureau is redundant since other federal agencies oversee financial misconduct including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve and the Federal Trade Commission. The state Supreme Court is weighing whether to overturn high court decisions from 1999 and 2007 after Nessel announced she planned to investigate pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly over insulin prices. Under the 1999 and 2007 decisions, Nessel is unable to even begin an investigation into Eli Lilly because it is regulated by both the Federal Drug Administration and the Michigan Board of Pharmacy, even though neither have authority over pricing. Separately, the then Democratic-led House introduced legislation last year to change state law to allow the Consumer Protection Act to extend to agencies otherwise covered by other regulatory bodies. But the legislation failed to move when the Democrats held the governor's office, the House and the Senate. Even if Michigan's Consumer Protection Act were strengthened through a decision or statutory changes, there are still some watchdog duties preserved to federal authority that could be endangered by the changes at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Chopra said Monday. "Federal law specifically charters national banks — big banks with big brand names like Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others — and restricts the ability of state law enforcement and state Legislatures from overseeing them," said Chopra. "If you think about some of those very large banks, those are some that can engage in nationwide harm. "Right now, the law does not really give the states the ability to prosecute fully those big national banks," he added. eleblanc@detroitnews.com This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan needs dismantled federal agency to protect consumers, Nessel says

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