On July 1, the OCC and the FDIC moved the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit to voluntarily dismiss their participation in the appeal of a preliminary injunction that blocked the October 2023 CRA final rule, which was issued jointly by the Fed, FDIC and OCC (covered by InfoBytes here). The motion states that the OCC and the FDIC “no longer wish to pursue this appeal,” which, as previously covered by InfoBytes, sought review of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision granting the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction against the rule. The 5th Circuit stayed the appeal on April 1, 2025, granting the agencies’ unopposed motion to pause the case pending completion of a new rulemaking. According to the OCC and FDIC’s motion, the plaintiffs took no position on the requested relief, and the Fed neither took a position, nor joined the motion to dismiss.

In a separate status report filed the same day, the agencies reported that while the OCC and the FDIC have “indicated their intention to pursue a different path and dismiss this appeal as to themselves,” the Fed “continues to work on this rulemaking.” The status report notes that the CRA “requires the FBAs to issue regulations to carry out the CRA’s purposes, but it does not require that the regulations be issued jointly,” citing 12 U.S.C. § 2905. It further notes that the agencies published a joint notice of proposed rulemaking on July 18, 2025, proposing to rescind the 2023 CRA final rule and reinstate the framework that existed prior to the rule, and received approximately 50 unique comment letters in response. The Fed stated that it “is close to completion of the rulemaking process” and noted that should the 2023 final rule be rescinded and replaced, the litigation would be moot. The Fed proposed to file an appropriate motion within 15 days of any final rule being issued, or a status report by August 14, whichever is earlier.