President Donald Trump has just received a partial win at the appellate court level. 

The Washington Examiner reports that a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has partially overturned a lower court ruling that blocked Trump's attempt to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

It is only a partial win because Trump, under the court order, will still not be able to completely dismantle the agency.

As we will see, however, he will be able to significantly reduce its size.

Background

Abolishing the CFPB is another one of those acts that Trump campaigned on, in the leadup to the 2024 presidential election, and he did not waste any time in attempting to make good on this promise.

Soon after taking office, Trump and Russell Vought - the acting CFPB director and the Office of Management and Budget director - began its attempt to cut the CFPB down to size. It was quickly hit, however, with a lawsuit from the National Treasury Employees Union.

CNN reports:

The challengers – federal employee unions and other organizations – argued Trump acted beyond his authority in trying to wind down the agency’s work and that his administration broke other laws with its actions.

A lower court gave the union a win, stopping Trump from proceeding.

Now, however, the appellate court has partially overturned this lower court ruling.

The latest

At the appellate court, the case was heard by three judges, two Trump appointees and an appointee of former President Barack Obama. It is perhaps worth noting that, at the lower court level, the case was decided against Trump by a well-known Obama appointee, Judge Amy Berman Jackson.

Jackson, though, has not been partially overruled.

CNN reports:

The new emergency order from the DC Circuit scaled back Jackson’s blanket prohibitions on the administration conducting mass employee terminations at the bureau. But the circuit said such terminations could only move forward after a “particularized assessment” determined that the targeted staff were not necessary for the agency to carry out its statutory functions.

The outlet adds:

The appeals court also blessed stop work orders halting CFPB activities, but only if a “particularized assessment” determined such orders would not interfere with the bureau’s ability to meet the obligations set by Congress. Additionally, the circuit is leaving in place aspects of Jackson’s order that limited the mass cancellation of contracts and that required the preservation of certain CFPB data.

So, it is good news for Trump for now. This, however, is still a very active case, and, at the very least, there will likely be an appeal of this latest ruling.