President Donald Trump faces resistance from federal judges over his attempts to remove Democratic appointees from two major labor boards.
According to Reuters, the Justice Department petitioned the Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow Trump to dismiss Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board while legal challenges to their removals continue.
Two Washington-based federal judges have blocked Trump's efforts to terminate these officials before their terms expire. The judges upheld federal laws that protect board members from being fired without proper cause, rejecting Trump's argument that these congressional measures infringe on presidential authority granted by the Constitution.
The potential dismissals could severely impact both agencies' ability to function effectively. Without Harris, the Merit Systems Protection Board risks losing its two-seat quorum after Democratic member Raymond Limon's term expired on February 28.
Similarly, Wilcox's removal threatens to leave the NLRB without its required three-seat quorum, as the board already has two vacancies. The Senate rejected a Democratic board member nominated by Biden for a new term in December.
The Justice Department argues that keeping these officials in their positions contradicts the administration's objectives. They emphasized the president's right to align agency leadership with his policy goals.
Trump's attempt to remove these officials is part of his broader initiative to restructure the federal government. His administration has already initiated mass layoffs of probationary workers and plans to downsize federal agencies significantly.
The Merit Systems Protection Board has seen a dramatic surge in cases since Trump's return to presidency in January, with over 8,000 federal workers filing appeals to challenge their dismissals. The board recently ordered the Department of Agriculture to temporarily reinstate thousands of terminated workers.
These developments have made the board a potential obstacle to Trump's workforce reduction plans. The situation highlights growing tensions between executive authority and legislative protections for independent agency officials.
The NLRB currently faces hundreds of pending cases involving major corporations such as Amazon, Tesla, Walmart, Apple, and Starbucks. These cases cannot proceed without a board review of administrative judge rulings.
Wilcox, who made history as the first Black woman to serve on the agency's board, received her second five-year term appointment from Biden in 2023. The board's role in protecting private-sector workers' rights to organize and join unions makes it a crucial avenue for workplace justice.
The agency's effectiveness in enforcing labor laws could be compromised if it loses its quorum. This situation particularly affects workers who rely on the board as their primary recourse for addressing workplace violations.
These developments represent a pivotal moment in Trump's efforts to reshape federal agencies and challenge congressional limits on presidential authority. The Justice Department has appealed to the Supreme Court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit declined to pause lower court rulings blocking the removals. Two federal judges, Rudolph Contreras and Beryl Howell, cited the 1935 Supreme Court precedent in the Humphreys Executor v. United States case. This landmark ruling established that presidents cannot freely remove commissioners of independent agencies solely due to policy differences.
