Lost in all the sturm and drang accompanying the President’s recess appointment of Richard Cordray as Director of the CFPB is the fact that one of Director Cordray’s first official acts was to appoint Raj Date as Deputy Director. Why is that important? Assuming that Cordray’s appointment is not invalidated by a court, he will serve until the end of this session of Congress. The next President (whoever that might be) will then need to fill the vacancy that will then be created. If the President is unable to appoint a new Director because of either a lack of desire to fill the vacancy or an inability to obtain Senate confirmation of his nominee, then Raj Date will be Acting Director for as long as the vacancy remains unfilled.
