We've joined other leading groups, including the National Consumer Law Center, Center for Responsible Lending, AARP and others, in an amicus, or friend of the court, brief to the Supreme Court in Cuomo v. Clearinghouse and OCC urging that the court overturn an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rule preventing state attorneys general from enforcing state laws applicable to national banks. The case concerns efforts begun by former NY attorney general Eliot Spitzer (Andrew Cuomo is the current NY Attorney General) to enforce applicable fair lending laws against national banks. The OCC claims that it and it alone can be the sole enforcer of state fair lending and other remaining state laws that it could not find the authority to preempt. Several years ago, in Wachovia v. Watters, the court upheld a separate overly-intrusive OCC rule that preempts most state laws from being applied to national banks, but we believe that the court will find that in this case, the OCC went too far. We and numerous other observers think OCC went too far in Wachovia, also, but the business-friendly Roberts court ruled the other way. Previous blog.