''Cuomo v. Clearing House Association, L.L.C.'', 557 U.S. 519 (2009), was a case decided by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

. In a 5–4 decision, the court determined that a federal banking regulation did not pre-empt the ability of states to enforce their own fair-lending laws. The Court determined that the

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) is an independent bureau within the United States Department of the Treasury that was established by the National Currency Act of 1863 and serves to charter, regulate, and supervise all nat ...

is the sole regulator of national

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

s but it does not have the authority under the National Bank Act to pre-empt state law enforcement against national banks. The case came out of an interpretation of the US Treasury Department's

which had blocked an investigation by New York into lending practices. The OCC claimed that the 1864 National Bank Act bars states from enforcing their own laws against national banks. Justice Scalia stated in the opinion that while the OCC has "visitorial powers," the right to examine the affairs of a corporation, that does not mean that it has the exclusive right to enforcement. "A sovereign's 'visitorial powers' and its power to enforce the law are two different things. Contrary to what the

CC's CC's (pronounced ''sea-seas'' and short for “corn chips”) is an Australian brand of flavoured tortilla chips produced since the early 1980s, originally by The Smith's Snackfood Company, and currently by Snack Brands Australia. CC's are predo ...

regulation says, the National Bank Act pre-empts only the former." Scalia noted that states "have always enforced their general laws against national banks—and have enforced their banking-related laws against national banks for at least 85 years." The case is notable for the justices composing the 5-4 majority, which included the liberal justices (

John Paul Stevens John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1975 to 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldes ...

, David Souter,

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...

, and

Stephen Breyer Stephen Gerald Breyer ( ; born August 15, 1938) is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1994 until his retirement in 2022. He was nominated by President Bill Clinton, and rep ...

) along with the conservative Scalia, who authored the opinion. Justice

Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...

, joined by Justices

Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has serve ...

, Anthony Kennedy, and Chief Justice John Roberts, wrote a dissent. The case is further notable for the suggested relationship of this OCC decision to the financial crisis of 2007–2010.

References

External links

* * * * United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court 2009 in United States case law United States Department of the Treasury Legal history of New York (state) {{SCOTUS-stub

See also

References

External links