Court ‘Paves Way to Autocracy’ by Upholding Trump’s Independent Agency Firings

A three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Friday approved President Donald Trump’s arbitrary firings of two officials at independent agencies that defend the rights of workers.

The ruling, issued by two Trump-appointed judges, further expands executive authority. A dissenting judge warned that it “brings us closer to autocracy, harms our nation, and violates the separation of powers.”

Earlier this year, Trump dismissed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) member Cathy Harris.

The NLRB guards private-sector employees’ rights to unionize and protects them from unfair employment practices. The MSPB safeguards merit-based federal employment and protects government employees from political favoritism. As a result, both agencies’ work affects virtually every worker in the U.S.

But Trump did not give a reason for the two officials’ dismissal — even though federal laws state that NLRB and MSPB members can only be removed by presidents for specific causes, like malfeasance.

For nearly a century, for-cause removal restrictions that protect independent officials like Wilcox and Harris have been upheld by Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., a 1935 Supreme Court case.

By preventing presidents from arbitrarily firing certain federal officials like Wilcox and Harris, that court case has defended the autonomy of independent agencies, such as those that regulate the economy, the stock market, federal campaign finance and communications. 

However, as part of his aggressive aim to expand executive power, Trump has sought to gain absolute control over all aspects of the federal government, even agencies Congress specifically designed to be insulated from direct interference from the White House.

In their ruling Friday, Trump appointees Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao adopted the Trump administration’s argument that the NLRB and MSPB wield too much executive power to not be accountable to the president. 

“Congress cannot restrict the President’s ability to remove NLRB or MSPB members,” Katsas wrote, adding that Humphrey’s Executor could also no longer apply to the two agencies. 

Judge Florence Pan, who was appointed by former President Biden, warned in a dissenting opinion that the Trump administration’s theory of executive power — and Katsas and Rao’s adoption of that theory — “paves the way to autocracy.”

“Adoption of the government’s maximalist theory of executive power (implicitly or explicitly) threatens to fundamentally change the character of our government,” Pan wrote. 

“Taken to its logical end, the government’s theory will eliminate removal protections for all employees of the Executive Branch and place every hiring decision and agency action under the political direction of the President,” she added.

After steadily chipping away at Humphrey’s Executor over the past 15 years, the Supreme Court has all but overturned the landmark ruling since Trump returned to office in January.

In May, the Roberts Court vacated a lower court ruling that reinstated Wilcox and Harris after finding that Trump violated federal law in dismissing them without cause. The court’s conservative majority didn’t explicitly explain its reasoning, but it was a clear indication that the justices may expand Trump’s removal powers by limiting Humphrey’s Executor. 

The Supreme Court may overturn the ruling outright in a separate lawsuit over Trump’s dismissal of Rebecca Slaughter, the last remaining Democratic commissioner on the Federal Trade Commission. It is set to hear oral arguments in the case Monday.

This story has been updated with additional details throughout.