Since President Donald Trump took office in 2016, there has been decisive and measurable movement toward deregulation and the reduced enforcement of existing regulations in many sectors, including the mortgage-finance industry. This has left an uncomfortable gap for those who believe that this trend leaves borrowers — and the larger economy — vulnerable to the avarice of lenders However, new research from Brian Feinstein, Wharton professor of legal studies and business ethics, shows states can step in to fill the gap through a mechanism called judicial foreclosure, which offers some legal protections and oversight to borrowers facing foreclosure. His policy brief, “State Foreclosure Law: A Neglected Element of the Housing Debate,” was published recently by the Wharton Public Policy Initiative . The brief was based on his paper, “ Judging Judicial Foreclosure ,” which was published in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies .…