The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is siding with President Donald Trump in his effort to remove Democratic appointees from a pair of federal labor enforcement agencies without cause.
A split three-judge panel on Friday handed down a reversal of lower-court rulings that found the White House’s removal of Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board were improper because of statutory protections insulating them from being fired except for limited reasons including “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”
The appeals court majority ruled that “Congress cannot restrict the President’s ability to remove NLRB or MSPB members” because the two agencies exert substantial executive branch authority.
The MSPB handles complaints involving federal workers with civil service protections, and the NLRB adjudicates private-sector labor disputes.
