DOJ Encourages Supreme Court to Allow Trump to Dismiss Labor Board Members
The submission was made a week after the Supreme Court temporarily suspended lower court directives that barred the termination of two Biden appointees.
On April 16, the Department of Justice requested that the Supreme Court formally overturn lower court decisions that restricted President Donald Trump from dismissing members of independent labor boards.
The order issued by Roberts, termed an administrative stay, provided the justices with additional time to deliberate on the Trump administration’s emergency request for a block. The stay was granted on April 9, just hours after it was requested by the administration, with no explanation offered for the ruling.
“It determined that the President must have a valid reason to dismiss the leaders of executive agencies that dictate the terms of private employment relationships and manage components of federal employment, thereby forcing the President to continue handing over considerable executive authority to principal executive officers whom he deems unfit. These decisions were profoundly incorrect, and they should be stayed.”
Reinstating principal officers constitutes “a severe affront to the President’s capability to manage the Executive Branch,” he asserted. “Up until this Administration, no federal court had issued an order reinstating a principal executive officer dismissed by the President.”
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Wilcox was appointed to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by President Joe Biden in 2021, following Senate confirmation, and was reappointed in 2023.
According to the National Labor Relations Act, the NLRB investigates complaints related to employers engaged in unfair labor practices.
Trump issued an order for her dismissal on January 27, notifying her via email.
The email stated that the NLRB was “not currently meeting its responsibility to the American public,” indicating it would better align with administration objectives “with personnel of [Trump’s] own choosing.”
In Trump’s view, Wilcox “was not operating in accordance with the objectives of [his] administration.”
Wilcox filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington and achieved a summary judgment on March 6, declaring her removal “unlawful” and affirming that she “retains membership” on the NLRB, which can only be terminated by the president under the conditions set forth in the statute governing the board.
The court dismissed the administration’s argument that tenure protection guaranteed by the statute contradicts Article II of the Constitution that outlines the president’s powers.
The district court determined it was obligated to adhere to Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), which ruled that President Franklin Roosevelt unlawfully terminated the head of the Federal Trade Commission, a so-called independent executive agency, without cause.
The executive branch is not “strictly unitary,” and the president’s ability to remove officials “has never been interpreted as unrestricted,” stated the district court.
Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), was appointed by Biden in 2022 after Senate confirmation. In 2024, Biden elevated her to the position of chairperson of the board.
She was dismissed by Trump on February 10, with the White House notifying her through email that her position was “terminated, effective immediately.”
Harris filed a lawsuit, and on February 18, the federal district court issued a temporary restraining order reinstating her employment on the board.
On March 4, the district court granted Harris a summary judgment, reinstating her as a board member, though not as chairman, according to the application.
A motions panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit then temporarily blocked the lower court rulings while pending appeal. Shortly after, a divided full circuit lifted the stay imposed by the panel, as noted in the application.
In the application, the government argued that Article II bestows upon the president the authority “to remove, at will, members of multimember boards which hold substantial executive power, such as the NLRB and MSPB.”
Supreme Court precedents “also demonstrate that district courts lack the power to issue injunctions or declaratory judgments negating the President’s removal authority regarding executive officers,” stated the application.
Conversely, on April 15, Harris and Wilcox submitted responses to the application arguing for their reinstatement.
She implored the high court to reject the application and allow the D.C. Circuit to conduct an expedited oral argument on the case scheduled for May 16.
“The Executive [branch] has no valid interest in completely dismantling an adjudicatory entity established by Congress,” the brief noted.
Dismissing Wilcox would inhibit the board’s ability to reach a quorum of three members, therefore stopping the appeals process it oversees.
The Supreme Court may act on the president’s emergency application at any moment.
