Consumer Law

Supreme Court Takes Bank Preemption Case

By Jeff Sovern

On Friday the Court took Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, 08-453.  After then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer had sought information from national banks in connection with an inquiry into racial discrimination by the banks, the OCC sued the Attorney General's Office to block the inquiry, arguing that the inquiry was preempted by federal law.  The Second Circuit, over a dissent, agreed with the OCC.  The other 49 states had also filed a brief supporting Cuomo's position.  The SCOTUS Blog report is here and the Times's story is here.  I wonder if the Court will feel some pressure to rule for the states in light of what we now know about the inadequacy of federal regulation.  I also wonder how broad the Court's ruling will be and what it will tell us about the applicability of other state laws to federal institutions. 

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on January 18, 2009 (boomark / email).