The Supreme Court has agreed to review an important case that would determine whether rules issued by the obscure but powerful national bank regulator, the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), overstepped its authority by preventing states from enforcing their own laws that even OCC admits still apply to national banks. We are amici for the states (previous blog) in Cuomo v. Clearinghouse Association and OCC. From the New York Times story High Court to Rule on State Inquiries on Banks by Adam Liptak:

The case arose from a 2005 inquiry by Eliot Spitzer, then New York’s attorney general, into possible racial discrimination in the real estate lending of Citigroup, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo. Mr. Spitzer said that information made public by the banks suggested that a much higher percentage of black and Hispanic borrowers were charged higher rates than white borrowers.