A radio host and entrepreneur now has a better chance of defeating the administrative state thanks to the Supreme Court’s reversal of the Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. deference in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The reversal will make it harder for federal regulators to take vague statutes and expand them to fit their agenda.
Barry Sturner hosts a weekly financial show on Chicago radio, which primarily serves to promote his mortgage company, Townstone Financial. But he is in the midst of a legal battle against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which dates back to comments he made as far back as 2014. Fair Housing groups and the Illinois ACLU have sided against Sturner, whose case is on appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit after a federal judge tossed the suit against Sturner.
Sturner made jokes about various parts of Chicago and the southern suburbs being violent and unsafe. Former President Barack Obama and former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot have made similar comments about the crime there. On one show, Sturner said to drive fast through Markham, Illinois, one of the most dangerous cities in the country.
The CFPB then took those comments, found out Sturner’s company was not making mortgages to black people at the same rate as other applicants, and slapped it all together into a federal lawsuit. The CFPB did not identify any black applicants who were actually discriminated against in the loan process itself. Rather, it effectively applied Ibram Kendi’s “antiracism” lens. For example, none of the company’s 17 loan officers were black, so that must indicate discrimination.
The CFPB did this using the broad power federal regulators had before last week to make up new rules and argue that the courts should defer to them over any ambiguity. The agency took the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act and argued its prohibition on discrimination applied to statements that might cause someone not to apply.
“A creditor shall not make any oral or written statement, in advertising or otherwise, to applicants or prospective applicants that would discourage on a prohibited basis a reasonable person from making or pursuing an application,” the regulation reads.
Federal regulators are right to step in when a finance company openly discriminates against prospective applicants. And subtler forms of discrimination, such as a loan officer telling a black applicant not to try to apply, should be illegal too. But there is no proof Sturner or his company did that. Rather, he made comments about parts of Chicago being violent or dangerous. That does not make him a criminal or a racist.
A representative for the Pacific Legal Foundation said the recent Supreme Court ruling helps at least two of its clients who are fighting administrative overreach. The group is also representing Sturner.
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“Our clients may now make their case in court without judges putting their thumb on the scale in favor of the government,” attorney Paige Gilliard stated in a news release . “The Supreme Court’s decision to end Chevron deference is a move to restore fairness in federal courts. Our clients Arlen Foster and KC Transport are among the first beneficiaries.”
Foster is a farmer who was told he could not farm on a puddle. KC Transport is a trucking company bizarrely targeted by mining regulators. If there is justice, the farmer, the trucker, and Sturner will soon prevail in court.
Matt Lamb is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. He is an associate editor for the College Fix and has previously worked for Students for Life of America and Turning Point USA.
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