Judge reverses Trump firing of employee appeals board member
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration’s firing of a federal employee appeals board member was unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled in favor of Cathy Harris, who chaired the three-person Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) during the Biden administration. He indefinitely reinstated her to her post on the board, writing that federal law prevents presidents from removing members of the MSPB without cause.
“The President’s attempt to terminate Harris was unlawful,” Contreras wrote in a 35-page decision.
The order allows Harris to return to her post, granting her full access to the benefits of her office while barring the Trump administration from recognizing any other person as a member of the MSPB in her position.
Harris was fired via a one-sentence email from the Presidential Personnel Office last month. She had four years left in her seven-year term on the MSPB, from which the president can only remove members for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”
Contreras’s order dictates Harris will continue to serve as a member of the board for the duration of her term unless she’s removed for one of those reasons.
During a hearing Monday over injunctive relief, Justice Department lawyer Jeremy Newman said the Constitution vests in the president “sole authority and duty” over the executive branch, including over firings. The president must be able to remove at will principal officers who exercise executive power, he argued.
Nathaniel Zelinsky, a lawyer for Harris, called the government’s theory of the case “breathtaking,” suggesting it amounted to empowering the president to “fire anyone in the executive branch” while Congress “can’t do anything about it.”
“The plaintiff deserves relief in this case,” he said.
Contreras ruled that the MSPB falls within the scope of Supreme Court precedent giving Congress the power to specify the length of members’ terms and determine under which circumstances the president may remove those members.
“The President thus lacks the power to remove Harris from office at will,” the judge wrote. “Because the President did not indicate that he sought to remove Harris for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, his attempt to terminate her was unlawful and exceeded the scope of his authority.”
Harris’s is one of several lawsuits challenging firings of independent federal agency leaders with statutory removal protections. The head of the Office of Special Counsel, plus Democratic appointees to multimember commissions such as the National Labor Relations Board and Federal Labor Relations Authority, have also challenged their firings.
A different federal judge ruled Saturday that Trump’s firing of OSC Director Hampton Dellinger was unlawful, which the Justice Department quickly appealed.
That case already reached the Supreme Court, though the justices punted on the Trump administration’s request to wipe the lower court’s temporary reinstatement of the official. The challenge will likely return there soon.
Contreras acknowledged Monday that his ruling would likely be appealed to the high court in short order, as well.
“That’s where all of us are heading,” the judge quipped.
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