Trump unlawfully fired National Labor Relations Board member, federal judge rules, permitting her to stay on the job
CNN
President Donald Trump’s firing of the former chairwoman of the National Labor Relations Board was an “illegal act,” a federal judge ruled Thursday, overturning her ousting in a decision that was highly critical of Trump’s “intent on pushing the bounds of his office.”
President Donald Trump’s firing of the former chairwoman of the National Labor Relations Board was an “illegal act,” a federal judge ruled Thursday, overturning her ousting in a decision that was highly critical of Trump’s “intent on pushing the bounds of his office.” The ruling from US District Judge Beryl Howell represents the third time in less than a week that a federal judge in Washington, DC, has ruled unlawful Trump’s firing of officials who head independent agencies. In a scathing ruling, Howell called Trump’s attempt earlier this year to fire Gwynne Wilcox, who had been serving as chair of the NLRB, “a blatant violation of the law … The President’s excuse for his illegal act cannot be sustained.” Howell’s order reinstates Wilcox as a board member, but Trump’s pick to chair the NLRB, Marvin Kaplan, will remain in charge. “The President seems intent on pushing the bounds of his office and exercising his power in a manner violative of clear statutory law to test how much the courts will accept the notion of a presidency that is supreme,” Howell, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, wrote in her 36-page opinion. “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, but may be constrained in appropriate circumstances, as are present here,” she added.
