Consumer Law

Obama Administration Takes Position in Fair Credit Reporting Act Preemption Case Before Supreme Court

By Brian Wolfman

U.S. PIRG's Consumer Blog has this excellent post on a petition pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The petition in American Bankers Association v. Brown, No. 08-730, asks whether a California financial privacy law is preempted by the federal Fair Credit Report Act to the extent that the California law prohibits the sharing of consumer information among affiliated financial institutions. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that, in significant part, the California law is not preempted. The Obama Administration has now told the Supreme Court that the Ninth Circuit's no-preemption ruling was wrong. But it has also told the Court that it should not take the case because (i) no other appellate courts have weighed in on the preemption issue (which would generally only happen if other states passed similar legislation that was challenged in the courts), and (ii) the Ninth Circuit's decision may have little practical effect. Check out the Supreme Court's electronic docket sheet on the case. An order on whether the Court will take the case is expected on Monday, June 29.

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on June 13, 2009 (boomark / email).