Court: Trump can't remove Dems from labor boards
By: Daniel Wissner
and Jonathan Stempel
Reuters
..... A federal appeals court blocked President Donald Trump from removing Democratic members form two federal labor boards on Monday, [04/07/2025] setting aside its earlier ruling.
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The decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit further complicates a pair of cases that are emerging as key tests of Trump's efforts to bring under his control agencies meant to be independent from the White House.
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The full D.c. Circuit in a 7-4 decision set aside a three-judge panel's March [2025] ruling that paused lower courts decisions blocking Trump from removing Gwynne Wilcox form the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board.
..... Monday's [04/07/2025] decision puts back in place two judges' decisions that upheld federal laws barring the president from removing members of the labor boards at will.
..... The White House and lawyers for Wilcox and Harris did not immediately respond to request for comment.
..... Without Wilcox and Harris the five-member NLRB and three-member Merit Systems Protection Board would not have enough members to decide cases, brining much of the work of the agencies to a standstill.
..... The NLRB hears cases in which private-sector employers and labor unions are accused of illegal labor practices.
..... The merit board hears appeals by federal employees when they are fired or otherwise disciplined, and has been inundated with new cases as a result of Trump's ongoing purge of the federal workforce.
..... More than 8,400 appeals have been field with the board since Trump returned to office in January, [2025] which is roughly the number the agency typically receives in two years.
.... Like several other agencies, both boards were set up by congress to be independent from the president in order to maintain impartiality when they decide individual cases. Congress passed laws giving job protections to members of these boards, allowing them to be fired by a president only for "neglect of duty or malfeasance in office" and, in the case of the merit board, also for inefficiency.
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Trump fried Wilcox and Harris soon after he took office in January, [2025] the first time a president had acted to remove members of either board. Harris and Wilcox filed lawsuits separately accusing Trump of violating the statutory job protections in firming them.
..... The Trump administration acknowledged violating the laws, but said the protections form removal for members of the two boards ran afoul of the powers given to the president under the Constitution.
..... The D.C. circuit panel split 2-1 when it paused the lower court ruling last month. [03/2025] Two Republican-appointed judges said removal protections for NLRB and merit board members were likely an invalid encroachment on Trump's powers to manage the executive branch.
..... But the full court on Monday [04/07/2025] said those judges had ignored U.S. Supreme Court precedent that upheld the structure of other independent federal agencies.