Judge orders reinstatement of NLRB member fired by Trump
A federal judge, Senior Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, has ordered the reinstatement of Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who was fired by former President Donald Trump. Judge Howell ruled that Trump did not have the legal authority to remove NLRB members without cause, emphasizing that such actions constitute a violation of the law. Howell stated that the president’s claim to have absolute power to fire federal officers is incorrect and that the Constitution provides judicial checks on presidential authority.
Wilcox, who was confirmed for a second five-year term in 2023, had argued that her dismissal was unlawful because it lacked evidence of negligence or misconduct. Howell highlighted the constitutional framers’ foresight in restricting presidential powers, asserting that “an American president is not a king.” Trump’s termination of Wilcox and Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB’s general counsel, has raised concerns about the board’s capacity to make decisions due to a lack of members needed for a quorum.
Judge orders reinstatement of NLRB member fired by Trump: ‘An American president is not a king’
A federal judge ordered a member of the National Labor Relations Board to be reinstated after she was fired by President Donald Trump.
Senior Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Thursday that Trump does not have the authority to fire the NLRB board members without cause. Gwynne Wilcox, at the time of her firing, said she would fight it because it is illegal for a president to remove a board member unless there is evidence of negligence of duty or malfeasance.
“The President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire plaintiff from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law,” Howell wrote.
The Senate confirmed Wilcox for a second five-year term in 2023. The NLRB is responsible for policing unfair labor practices and mediating worker-management disputes.
Howell, an Obama appointee, wrote that a central element to Wilcox’s case is “the President’s insistence that he has authority to fire whomever he wants within the Executive branch, overriding any congressionally mandated law in his way.”
“[Trump’s] interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power — or, more aptly, his aspiration — is flat wrong,” the judge wrote.
Howell said the framers of the Constitution, “anticipating such a power grab,” gave the courts “the power to interpret the law, including resolving conflicts about congressional checks on presidential authority.”
“An American President is not a king — not even an ‘elected’ one — and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute, but may be constrained in appropriate circumstances, as are present here,” Howell wrote.
“A President who touts an image of himself as a ‘king’ or a ‘dictator,’ perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the U.S. Constitution,” she added.
In addition to Wilcox, Trump fired Jennifer Abruzzo, general counsel at the NLRB. She began her four-year term in July 2021.
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Firing both women meant the NLRB would temporarily lack the three-person quorum to rule on decisions. The NLRB consists of at most five members but needs three to decide cases.
The initial termination of Wilcox and Abruzzo comes as the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk, pushes and executes widespread layoffs.
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