In a victory for the Trump administration, judge Timothy Kelly has denied a request to prevent Mick Mulvaney from serving as the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

On Friday, then-director of the CFPB Richard Cordray named his chief of staff, Leandra English, deputy director of the agency. Cordray then stepped down. As Andy McCarthy points out, “Cordray was quite explicitly attempting to ensure that he, rather than the president, would choose his successor,” because the deputy director of the CFPB serves as its director if the director is “absent or unavailable.” Trump thwarted that scheme when he appointed Mulvaney to the post, which, as Andy further notes, he obviously has the authority to do: Under the Vacancies Act, the president can appoint replacements for federal officials who have resigned from their posts.

Nevertheless, English sued, filing the restraining order to block Mulvaney that judge Kelly denied this afternoon. She is expected to appeal, but in this case the law is clearly on the side of the president.