President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to let him fire Democratic holdovers on the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The three regulators, Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and Richard Trumka Jr., were all appointed by Joe Biden and have shown "hostility" to Trump's agenda, his lawyers told the Supreme Court. A district court in June ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the three regulators, who now make up the majority on the commission, after Trump fired them.
The Trump administration calls this another example of the judicial assault that has undermined Trump's authority since January, and they're asking the Supreme Court to stop the "court-ordered takeover" of the commission.
The three commissioners claim they are protected by federal law from being fired without cause. But Trump's Solicitor General John D. Sauer pointed to the Supreme Court's emergency ruling in Trump v. Wilcox, in which the court found the president "may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf."
The Supreme Court's May ruling allowed Trump to fire Biden appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). In Wilcox, the justices echoed the Trump administration's concerns about executive power being undermined by rogue officials. As they wrote at the time, there is a greater risk in "allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty."
The Trump administration argues Wilcox should have stopped U.S. District Judge Matthew Maddox from ordering a hostile takeover of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Maddox's ruling to reinstate the three Biden appointees was later upheld by an appeals court.
The district court effectively transferred control of the commission to individuals appointed by Trump's predecessor, despite Trump's "mandate of the people to exercise [the] executive power," Trump's Solicitor General John D. Sauer wrote.
"That plain-as-day affront to the President’s fundamental Article II powers warrants intervention now just as much as in Wilcox," Sauer wrote.
Upon their reinstatement, the Biden commissioners, who now make up a majority, "immediately moved to undo actions that the Commission had taken since their removal," Sauer wrote, resulting in "untenable chaos."
The Biden commissioners issued new policies contrary to Trump's agenda and fired staff Trump hired to enact his own policies. Biden holdover Richard Trumka Jr. - who was behind the infamous Biden effort to ban gas stoves - sent an email threatening staff to comply with the new majority's wishes.
"To the staff of the agenda planning committee, let me be clear: you are instructed to attend the meeting as usual," he wrote. "If you chose to ignore the directive of the Commission, I suggest you read the Court order and decide whether you want to personally violate it."
The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to activist judges last week with its ruling limiting nationwide injunctions, but the threat of an activist judiciary remains.
"It's outrageous that we must once again seek Supreme Court intervention because rogue leftist judges in lower courts continue to defy the high court's clear rulings," said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
"The Supreme Court decisively upheld the president's constitutional authority to fire and remove executive officers exercising his power, yet this ongoing assault by activist judges undermines that victory," he continued.
"President Trump remains committed to fulfilling the American people's mandate by effectively leading the executive branch, despite these relentless obstructions."
