Whether the regulations issued by the Board and the CFPB permissibly construe the 'applicants' protected from discrimination by ECOA to encompass guarantors

QUESTION PRESENTED The Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) makes it unlawful for “any creditor to discriminate against any applicant, with respect to any aspect of a credit transaction,” on the basis of sex, marital status, and other designated characteristics. 15 U.S.C. § 1691(a)(1). For more than three decades, regulations promulgated first by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and then by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, pursuant to express delegations of broad rulemaking authority, have provided that, for certain purposes, the “applicants” protected from discrimination by ECOA include guarantors. See 12 C.F.R. §§ 202.2(e), 1002.2(e). The question presented, which recently divided this Court, 4-4, in Hawkins v. Community Bank of Raymore, 136 S. Ct. 1072 (2016), is: Whether the regulations issued by the Board and the CFPB permissibly construe the “applicants” protected from discrimination by ECOA to encompass guarantors. @®