Former chief of staff Leandra English filed a suit [complaint] on Sunday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] against the Trump administration over the currently vacant director position at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) [official website], to which US President Donald Trump seeks to name budget director Mick Mulvaney as acting director.

Former director Richard Cordray formally resigned on Friday and named English as his temporary replacement [press release].

Trump immediately sought to place Mulvaney as the director until he can confirm a permanent director through the Senate.

The suit hinges on which law applies when filling a temporary leadership vacancy at a new regulatory agency. English argues that the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law [text], which created the agency, states that a deputy director temporarily acts as director when the former director departs until Senate confirms a permanent director. The Trump administration asserts [text, PDF] that the 1998 Federal Vacancies Reform Act [text] grants the president the power to temporarily fill agency positions, except when the agency has multi-member boards. According to the administration, this exception does not apply.

English seeks a temporary restraining order to block Mulvaney’s appointment as well as retain her new position.