US Federal Judge Beryl Howell ordered on Thursday the reinstatement of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Chair Gwynne Wilcox accompanied by harsh words for President Donald Trump.
Wilcox filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in February alleging that her removal was unlawful. The complaint alleged that her removal violated the National Labor Relations Act, which limits causation for removal of board members to neglect of duty or malfeasance. Wilcox’s removal “by late-night email” would have been the first time a member of the board was removed since the Board’s inception in 1935.
The case came before Judge Howell in Washington DC, resulting in a decision in favor of Wilcox. However, Judge Howell’s memorandum opinion not only sided with Wilcox but also included passionate remarks backed by long-standing case law:
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 . . . Nothing in the Constitution or the historical development of the removal power has suggested the President’s removal power is absolute . . . Plaintiff’s wrongful termination has caused “chaos” enough and shall not be allowed to stand based on defendants’ self-serving speculation . . . 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.
Judge Howell was appointed to the district court in 2010 by former President Barack Obama and has previously decided a case against the interests of the Trump administration. This decision upholds the rule of law and the checks and balances system that has long been a foundation in the government of the US.
This is not the first time a court blocked Trump’s decision to terminate a federal employee. On March 1, District Judge Amy Berman Jackson reinstated Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel tasked with protecting the merit system in the federal civil service. On March 4, District Judge Rudolph reinstated Cathy A. Harris, the Democratic chairperson of the Merit System Protection Board. In these rulings, the courts held that these officers could only be terminated for cause.
Relatedly in February, several US inspectors general sought to have their positions reinstated, alleging that the removals were politically motivated and illegal. The preliminary injunction hearing is scheduled for March 11.