Supreme Court: Mortgage overseer structure unconstitutional

Originally published on June 23, 2021, by Jessica Gresko for APNews.com.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave the president greater power to fire the head of the agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ruling that the agency’s structure violates the separation of powers principles in the Constitution.

Writing for a majority of the court, Justice Samuel Alito said that as the justices explained in a case last year, “the Constitution prohibits even ‘modest restrictions on the President’s power to remove the head of an agency with a single top officer.”

The ruling paves the way for President Joe Biden to remove Mark Calabria, who was nominated to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters after the Supreme Court decision that the president would nominate a new head of the FHFA, but she did not give a timeline.

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