Rop v. Fed. Hous. Fin. Agency

• Decision Date: 04 October 2022
• Docket Number: 20-2071
• Parties: MICHAEL ROP; STEWART KNOEPP; ALVIN WILSON, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY; SANDRA L. THOMPSON, in her official capacity as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

MICHAEL ROP; STEWART KNOEPP; ALVIN WILSON, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE AGENCY; SANDRA L. THOMPSON, in her official capacity as Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 20-2071

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit

October 4, 2022

Argued: June 9, 2022

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan at Grand Rapids. No. 1:17-cv-00497-Paul Lewis Maloney, District Judge.

ARGUED:

Peter A. Patterson, COOPER & KIRK, PLLC, Washington, D.C., for Appellants.

Robert J. Katerberg, ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP Washington, D.C., for Appellees Thompson and Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Gerard Sinzdak, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington D.C., for Appellee United States Department of the Treasury.

ON BRIEF:

Peter A. Patterson, David H. Thompson, Charles J. Cooper, Brian W Barnes, John D. Ramer, COOPER & KIRK, PLLC, Washington, D.C., for Appellants.

Robert J. Katerberg, Howard N. Cayne, Asim Varma, ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP, Washington, D.C., for Appellees Thompson and Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Gerard Sinzdak, Abby C. Wright, Kyle Edwards, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Appellee United States Department of the Treasury.

Before: GIBBONS, COOK, and THAPAR, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

Julia Smith Gibbons, Circuit Judge

Shareholders in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sued the Federal Housing Finance Agency ("FHFA"), which is the companies' conservator, and the Treasury Department. This lawsuit, and many others like it, seeks to nullify an agreement between FHFA and Treasury that "secured unlimited funding for Fannie and Freddie from Treasury in exchange for almost all of Fannie's and Freddie's future profits." Rop v. Fed. Hous. Fin. Agency, 485 F.Supp.3d 900, 910 (W.D. Mich. 2020). Shareholders allege that this agreement, known as the third amendment, was authorized by a government official-the Acting Director of FHFA-who was serving in violation of the Appointments Clause. Shareholders also claim that they are entitled to retrospective relief because the Supreme Court held in Collins v. Yellen, 141 S.Ct. 1761 (2021), that FHFA's enabling statute contained an unconstitutional removal restriction. The district court dismissed shareholders' complaint, finding that the Appointments Clause claim presented a nonjusticiable political question and that the removal restriction claim was not connected to shareholders' alleged injuries. We reverse and consider the Appointments Clause claim on the merits, holding that the Acting Director was not serving in violation of the Constitution when he signed the third amendment. We remand to the district court to determine whether, considering Collins, the unconstitutional removal restriction inflicted harm on shareholders.

I.

Like the district court, we turn to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit for the third amendment's relevant factual background:

1. The Origins of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Created by federal statute in 1938, Fannie Mae originated as a government owned entity designed to "provide stability in the secondary market for residential mortgages," to "increas[e] the liquidity of mortgage investments," and to "promote access to mortgage credit throughout the Nation." 12 U.S.C. § 1716; see id. § 1717. To accomplish those goals, Fannie Mae (i) purchases mortgage loans from commercial banks, which frees up those lenders to make additional loans, (ii) finances those purchases by packaging the mortgage loans into mortgage-backed securities, and (iii) then sells those securities to investors. In 1968, Congress made Fannie Mae a publicly traded, stockholder-owned corporation. See Housing and Urban Development Act, Pub. L. No. 90-448, § 801, 82 Stat. 476, 536 (1968) (codified at 12 U.S.C. § 1716b).

Congress created Freddie Mac in 1970 to "increase the availability of mortgage credit for the financing of urgently needed housing." Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation Act, Pub. L. No. 91- 351, preamble, 84 Stat. 450 (1970). Much like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac buys mortgage loans from a broad variety of lenders, bundles them together into mortgage-backed securities, and then sells those mortgage-backed securities to investors. In 1989, Freddie Mac became a publicly traded, stockholder owned corporation. See Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989, Pub. L. No. 101-73, § 731, 103 Stat. 183, 429-436.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became major players in the United States' housing market. Indeed, in the lead up to 2008, Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolios had a combined value of $5 trillion and accounted for nearly half of the United States mortgage market. But in 2008, the United States economy fell into a severe recession, in large part due to a sharp decline in the national housing market. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac suffered a precipitous drop in the value of their mortgage portfolios, pushing the Companies to the brink of default.

The 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act

Concerned that a default by Fannie and Freddie would imperil the already fragile national economy, Congress enacted the Recovery Act, which established FHFA and authorized it to undertake extraordinary economic measures to resuscitate the Companies. To begin with, the Recovery Act denominated Fannie and Freddie "regulated entit[ies]" subject to the direct "supervision" of FHFA, 12 U.S.C. § 4511(b)(1), and the "general regulatory authority" of FHFA's Director, id. § 4511(b)(1), (2). The Recovery Act charged FHFA's Director with "oversee[ing] the prudential operations" of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and "ensur[ing] that" they "operate[ ] in a safe and sound manner," "consistent with the public interest." Id. § 4513(a)(1)(A), (B)(i), (B)(v).

The Recovery Act further authorized the Director of FHFA to appoint FHFA as either conservator or receiver for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "for the purpose of reorganizing, rehabilitating, or winding up the[ir] affairs." 12 U.S.C. § 4617(a)(2). The Recovery Act invests FHFA as conservator with broad authority and discretion over the operation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. For example, upon appointment as conservator, FHFA "shall . . . immediately succeed to . . . all rights, titles, powers, and privileges of the regulated entity, and of any stockholder, officer, or director of such regulated entity with respect to the regulated entity and the assets of the regulated entity." Id. § 4617(b)(2)(A). In addition, FHFA "may . . . take over the assets of and operate the regulated entity," and "may . . . preserve and conserve the assets and property of the regulated entity." Id. § 4617(b)(2)(B)(i), (iv).

The Recovery Act further invests FHFA with expansive "[g]eneral powers," explaining that FHFA "may," among other things, "take such action as may be . . . necessary to put the regulated entity in a sound and solvent condition" and "appropriate to carry on the business of the regulated entity and preserve and conserve [its] assets and property[.]" 12 U.S.C. § 4617(b)(2), (2)(D). FHFA's powers also include the discretion to "transfer or sell any asset or liability of the regulated entity in default . . . without any approval, assignment, or consent," id. § 4617(b)(2)(G), and to "disaffirm or repudiate [certain] contract[s] or lease[s]," id. § 4617(d)(1). See also id. § 4617(b)(2)(H) (power to pay the regulated entity's obligations); id. § 4617(b)(2)(I) (investing the conservator with subpoena power).

Consistent with Congress's mandate that FHFA's Director protect the "public interest," 12 U.S.C. § 4513(a)(1)(B)(v), the Recovery Act invested FHFA as conservator with the authority to exercise its statutory authority and any "necessary" "incidental powers" in the manner that "the Agency [FHFA] determines is in the best interests of the regulated entity or the Agency." Id. § 4617(b)(2)(J) (emphasis added).

The Recovery Act separately granted the Treasury Department "temporary" authority to "purchase any obligations and other securities issued by" Fannie and Freddie. 12 U.S.C. §§ 1455(l)(1)(A), 1719. That provision made it possible for Treasury to buy large amounts of Fannie and Freddie stock, and thereby infuse them with massive amounts of capital to ensure their continued liquidity and stability.

Continuing Congress's concern for protecting the public interest, however, the Recovery Act conditioned such purchases on Treasury's specific determination that the terms of the purchase would "protect the taxpayer," 12 U.S.C. § 1719(g)(1)(B)(iii), and to that end specifically authorized "limitations on the payment of dividends," id. § 1719(g)(1)(C)(vi). A sunset provision terminated Treasury's authority to purchase such securities after December 31, 2009. Id. § 1719(g)(4). After that, Treasury was authorized only "to hold, exercise any rights received in connection with, or sell, any obligations or securities purchased." Id. § 1719(g)(2)(D).

Lastly, the Recovery Act sharply limits judicial review of FHFA's conservatorship activities, directing that "no court may take any action to restrain or affect the exercise of powers or functions of the Agency as a conservator." 12 U.S.C. § 4617(f).

On September 6, 2008, FHFA's Director placed both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship. The next day, Treasury entered into Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements ("Stock Agreements") with Fannie and Freddie, under which Treasury committed to promptly invest billions of dollars in Fannie and Freddie to keep them from defaulting. Fannie and Freddie had been "unable to access [private] capital markets" to shore up their financial condition, "and the

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