U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts intervened Monday in a case involving President Donald Trump's firings of two federal agency board members, preventing their reinstatement until the full case can be heard.
An appeals court ruled 7-4 that Cathy Harris and Gwynne Wilcox should be reinstated to their positions on the Merit Systems Protection Board and National Labor Relations Board respectively, arguing that Trump did not have constitutional authority to fire them without cause because their agencies were independent.
The full court ruling overturned the initial three-judge panel, which upheld the firings 2-1.
The appeals court said in its decision, “The Supreme Court has repeatedly told the courts of appeals to follow extant Supreme Court precedent unless and until that court itself changes it or overturns it.”
Judge Karen Henderson wrote, “Only the Supreme Court can decide the dispute and, in my opinion, the sooner, the better.”
Seems like that has now happened with Roberts' ruling, at least on the temporary stay.
A previous Supreme Court precedent said that agency heads independent agency heads could not be fired without cause, but opponents of that precedent say that it limits executive authority more than the Constitution allows.
Government attorneys said, “Reinstatement works a grave harm to the separation of powers and undermines the President’s ability to exercise his authority under the Constitution.”
Both Wilcox and Harris were appointed by the Biden administration to specific terms, and Wilcox's term was just renewed recently.
Due to court decisions, Wilcox and Harris have been fired and reinstated five times since Trump took office.
Without Wilcox, the NLRB does not have a quorum to make certain decisions.
Without Harris, the MSPB only has one board member.
This is not Trump's fault; if the courts would let him do his job, he would be able to fill the vacant positions and resolve these issues in a timely manner.
If the powers that be really wanted these agencies to be independent, then it seems like they should not give presidents the power to appoint members at all.
