Judge Orders Trump Administration to Reinstate Merit Systems Board Chair as Appeal Begins
Attorneys for the government also requested a stay of the temporary restraining order until their appeal concludes.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras rejected the Trump administration’s request to postpone the reinstatement of Cathy Harris as chairwoman of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) while an appeal was pending.
Contreras’s order not only temporarily restores Harris to her position but also prevents government officials from “treating her as having been removed,” restricting her access to the office’s resources, and acknowledging any other individual as a member of the MSPB in her role.
In his ruling, Contreras determined that Harris is likely to demonstrate that her termination was unlawful, allowing her to file for a preliminary injunction by Feb. 24, with a hearing set for March 3.
Harris’s legal team argued that she could only be terminated from her position before the conclusion of her term “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” emphasizing that she was not provided with a reason for her termination.
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They contended that the MSPB operates independently from the executive branch, despite managing employment disputes within it.
The judge also concurred with the assertion that Harris would suffer irreparable harm due to her termination.
In a recent filing, government attorneys maintained that President Donald Trump possesses the authority to terminate MSPB members at will due to the considerable executive power held by the agency, claiming that Harris’s legal team did not adequately demonstrate that she would prevail on the merits of her case.
“The president is being prevented from appointing an agency head of his choosing to carry out his agenda, and the president must instead keep an agency head against his will,” the filing states.
“This type of harm—to the Executive Branch, to the separation of powers, and to our democratic system—is clearly irreparable.”
The defendants further argued that loss of employment and wages typically does not equate to irreparable harm, asserting that back pay granted at the conclusion of the case has been a standard remedy.
“To the extent [the] plaintiff claims irreparable harm to the functioning of the MSPB itself, that claim is unfounded, as the MSPB can continue to operate without the plaintiff,” the filing reads.
Cathy Harris was appointed to her role by President Joe Biden in 2022.
Zachary Stieber contributed to this report.
