ACSBlog

by Nanya Springer

As part of its Access to Justice series, ACS on Thursday hosted Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray for a discussion of how forced arbitration and other anti-consumer measures are harming average Americans. Cordray, the agency’s first director, has overseen the birth and growth of the CFPB, which sprung directly from the financial crisis of 2007-2008. During the ensuing years, the cumulative wealth of middle-income Americans fell drastically, and many families saw their net worth cut in half.  The CFPB, he noted, was forged to ensure “consumer financial markets work by making rules more effective, by consistently and fairly enforcing those rules, and by empowering consumers to take more control over their economic lives.”

A burgeoning threat to consumers is mandatory arbitration agreements. Cordray explained that originally, arbitration was used primarily “in commercial disputes between businesses that bargained with each other to create tailored contracts; it was rarely used in disagreements between businesses and consumers.” Over the last two decades, however, “banks started including arbitration clauses in their consumer contracts, requiring any disputes or disagreements to be resolved through private arbitration.” He noted that the attorneys who advised these banks specifically pointed out that arbitration clauses can be used to block class action lawsuits.

To investigate the impact of increasingly common arbitration clauses, the CFPB undertook the most extensive study of consumer finance arbitration ever conducted, finding that tens of millions of consumers are subject to at least one mandatory arbitration clause—and most don’t even know it. Most importantly, the CFPB found that “arbitration clauses restrict consumers’ relief in disputes with financial service providers because companies are using them to block class proceedings in any forum – whether court or arbitration.”

by Leslie C. Griffin, Boyd Professor of Law, UNLV Boyd School of Law

This post originally appeared on Hamilton and Griffin on Rights.

Catholics for Choice joined nine other Catholic organizations in filing a “friend of the court” brief with the Supreme Court of the United States. The amicus brief lifts up the voices of the Catholic laity, workers, women, children and LGBT people who would be affected by the Supreme Court ruling in the Zubik v. Burwell case.

Zubik v. Burwell is consolidated with six other cases brought by members of the Catholic hierarchy and allied organizations in the latest round of challenges to the birth control provisions in the Affordable Care Act. If the Supreme Court were to rule in favor of the bishops’ demands, hundreds of thousands of employees at religiously-affiliated nonprofit organizations could be deprived of their conscience rights, religious freedom and access to healthcare.

Jon O’ Brien, president of Catholics for Choice and lead among the amici, said, “Where you are employed should not override your religious freedom nor limit your access to healthcare. The majority of Catholics use and support contraceptive coverage. The majority of Catholics support real religious liberty for all. The majority of Catholics would be disappointed by a ruling in favor of the bishops.”

Continued O’Brien, “We filed this brief because we are all concerned that if the bishops and their allies get their way, it will only be the beginning. The bishops have shown their desire to circumvent any law to which they object. If the courts rule in their favor, they could start opposing health insurance benefits for same-sex couples and their dependents, or refuse maternity leave to women who have children using in vitro fertilization, or deny gay and lesbian parents the right to adopt a child.”

Marianne Duddy-Burke, executive director of DignityUSA, a member of the coalition, said, “We believe it is absolutely essential that the petitioners not prevail in this case. We are already seeing employees in same-sex marriages being refused employment, fired and denied health benefits that are given to their colleagues—all on the basis of employers’ religious beliefs. We don’t believe the law supports this and hope the court upholds the equality of all employees.”

Jim Fitzgerald, executive director of Call to Action, a third member of the coalition, said, “The majority of Catholics across the country support equality, inclusivity and social justice. We join them in rejecting discrimination on the basis of sexual identity or conscience-based decisions about healthcare. We lift up the rights of workers to follow their God-given conscience when making deeply personal decisions around their reproductive health.”

“Catholics for Choice is proud to stand with our partners to represent the majority of Catholics who believe that imposing religious beliefs on others is wrong,” concluded O’Brien. “To use the Catholic faith to deny employees equal access to healthcare is not the freedom from religion guaranteed by our Constitution. What the bishops want is simply state-sponsored discrimination. We support the rights of the workers to follow their conscience when making a decision about contraception, and we oppose the hierarchy’s attempts to interfere with anyone’s personal decisions.”

Oral arguments for Zubik v. Burwell will be heard by the Supreme Court on March 23.