Trump Fires Independent Agency Board Members
🟠 Erosion of Democratic Norms ·
Feb 2025
Summary
In February 2025, shortly after returning to office, President Donald Trump fired Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) with a term running through 2028, and Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), without citing any permissible statutory cause. Federal law provides that members of both agencies may be removed only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office; Trump cited none. Cathy Harris sued, and in March 2025, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled her firing unlawful and ordered her reinstated. The Supreme Court, however, granted Trump’s emergency request on a 6-3 vote in May 2025, with justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissenting, allowing both firings to proceed pending further litigation. In December 2025, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the firings were lawful, finding that statutory removal protections are unconstitutional as applied to agency heads exercising substantial executive power. The firings left both boards unable to function. With Harris gone, the MSPB lost its quorum and could no longer decide federal employee appeals during a period of mass government layoffs under the Department of Government Efficiency. Wilcox’s removal dropped the NLRB to two members, below the three-member quorum required by the National Labor Relations Act, halting the Board’s authority to issue decisions in unfair labor practice and union representation cases even as its regional offices continued processing them.
Key Figures
Donald Trump, Cathy Harris, Gwynne Wilcox
Institutions Involved
Sources
- ‘Merit board’ chair was unlawfully fired by Trump - judge rules - keeping her on the job
- Supreme Court allows Trump to fire members of independent agency boards
- Appeals court hands Trump a victory - OK’ing firings of two independent agency heads