A federal appeals court has reversed President Donald Trump’s firings of two independent agency leaders, reinstating them on Monday. This ruling, in a 7-4 vote, could lead to a battle at the Supreme Court.
The decision overturns a previous ruling by a three-judge panel that supported Trump’s decision to remove Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board.
For now, Harris and Wilcox are back in their positions, but the Trump administration has the option to file an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court.
The case is important because it challenges a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling that allows certain protections for leaders of independent agencies. The majority of the D.C. Circuit court emphasized that the Supreme Court should decide whether to change or uphold its earlier decisions, but until then, lower courts must follow those precedents.
“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,” the court’s ruling said.
Harris and Wilcox sued after Trump fired them without explanation. The law requires firings to be justified by reasons like inefficiency, neglect of duty, or misconduct. Trump’s administration did not provide such reasons and instead argued that the protections preventing these firings were unconstitutional. They’ve hinted they might ask the Supreme Court to overturn its past decisions supporting those protections.
“Only the Supreme Court can decide the dispute and, in my opinion, the sooner, the better,” said U.S. Circuit Judge Karen Henderson, who dissented. Henderson, appointed by former President George H.W. Bush, was joined in her dissent by Trump appointees Judges Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao, and Justin Walker. The majority, which ruled in favor of Harris and Wilcox, included judges appointed by Democratic presidents.
Rao, another dissenting judge, warned that the court’s decision could lead to a confrontation with the President: “Without considering the difficult questions regarding the scope of the court’s equitable or legal authority, the en banc majority blesses the district court’s unprecedented injunctions and purports to reinstate principal officers ousted by the President. In so doing, the majority threatens to send this court headlong into a clash with the Executive.”
Lower courts had already ruled that Trump’s firings of other officials, like Susan Grundmann and Hampton Dellinger, were unlawful, though Dellinger dropped his challenge after an appeals court blocked his reinstatement.
The case will return to a three-judge panel for a final decision on whether the firings were legal, but the Trump administration could seek an immediate review from the Supreme Court.
