The President removed a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) without cause. The members challenged their removals because 29 U.S.C. §153(a) and 5 U.S.C. §1202(d) permit the president to remove these officers only for cause. After finding in the members’ favor, the district court enjoined the president’s removal of these members. The government appealed the injunctions to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. The government also filed an emergency application for a stay pending the D.C. Circuit’s decision and any potential certiorari petition.
In Trump v. Wilcox, 145 S. Ct. 1415
(2025), the Supreme Court granted the stay, emphasizing that Article II of the
Constitution vests the executive power in the President, which includes broad
authority to remove executive officers who act on his behalf. Seila Law LLC
v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 591 U.S. 197, 215-218 (2020). The
Court reasoned that the Government would face greater harm if removed officers
continued to exercise executive power during litigation than the officers would
face from being unable to serve. The Court noted that both the NLRB and the MSPB
likely wield “considerable executive power” but declined to resolve whether they
were “executive officers” that could be removed without cause by the President
under Art. II, §1, cl. 1. Finally, the Court noted that the for-cause removal
protections for members of the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors and Federal
Open Market Committee were not implicated because “[t]he Federal Reserve is a
uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct
historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United
States.”
By Shannon Vazquez [email protected]
Edited By Conor Doris [email protected]
Edited By Callighan Ard [email protected]
Edited By Hayden Mariott [email protected]