Good discussion indeed. If you do banking compliance work, wouldn't be surprised if our paths have crossed. I may even be on your outside counsel list. :)

I follow this stuff closely and that was just one case that really stuck out to me, given how one of the judges seemed to singlehandedly change the issue from interpretation of RESPA and resolving the fine imposed on PHH (which was absurd, I might add) to constitutionality of statute and agency structure.

Believe it or not, while you probably couldn't pay me enough to vote for a Republican these days, I'm not that far left on most issues either. I have worked most of my career as regulatory/defense counsel but also spent some time in government and seen some nutso plaintiff's attorneys and consumer advocates ... so tend to be a lot more pro-business than many of my lefty compatriots. I guess at the end of the day I don't think most people in business are trying to fuck people over or hurt them and compliance can turn into an unnecessarily complicated "gotcha" game where regulators are just trying to intimidate the companies they regulate. Seeing a lot more of that on the state level these days than federal, so you can at least thank your lucky stars for preemption!