In a decision that dropped like a constitutional thunderclap, a divided D.C. Circuit panel on Friday upheld former President Donald Trump’s removals of two labor-agency officials, ruling that despite statutory protections, the president retains the power to dismiss them because they exercise significant “executive” authority. The opinion overturns two district court rulings that had restored the officials to their posts and throws fresh fuel onto the long-burning debate over the limits of executive control.
Majority Says Old Supreme Court Precedent Doesn’t Shield These Agencies
The judges rejected arguments that the 90-year-old Supreme Court decision Humphrey’s Executor v. United States insulated the officials from dismissal. Instead, the panel concluded that the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board wield powers far beyond the “limited” quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial functions described in the 1935 ruling.
“The powers of the NLRB and MSPB substantially exceed the circumscribed administrative powers that Humphrey’s Executor deemed to be quasi-legislative or quasi-judicial,” the panel wrote, charting a reading of precedent that sharply narrows the statute-based protections Congress placed on these roles.
The ruling does not change the current landscape, because the Supreme Court earlier stayed an en banc order reinstating NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox and MSPB member Cathy Harris, leaving both positions unoccupied pending final resolution.
