Trump Violated Federal Law in Removing Labor Board Chair, Judge Finds

A federal judge ruled Trump violated federal law last month in dismissing the chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which safeguards employees’ rights to organize unions and prevents unfair labor practices.

It’s another setback for Trump’s goal of expanding presidential power over independent federal agencies that Congress designed to operate without direct control from the White House. However, Thursday’s ruling increases the likelihood that challenges to Trump’s dismissals will continue to go before the Supreme Court.

D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ruled the Trump administration violated the 1935 National Labor Relations Act by firing NLRB Chair Gwynne Wilcox without cause. The law states that a member “may be removed by the President, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.”

In rejecting Wilcox’s dismissal and ordering her reinstatement, Howell specifically called out the unitary executive theory, which asserts that the president can exercise complete control over all executive branch officials without interference by Congress.

Howell also cited Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S., the 1935 Supreme Court case that prevented presidents from dismissing members of independent regulatory bodies.

“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,” Howell wrote.

“The President’s interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power— or, more aptly, his aspiration—is flat wrong,” the judge added.

When Wilcox was removed, there were two NLRB seats vacant, meaning Trump had the opportunity to nominate two officials and return the board to a Republican majority.

After Wilcox’s dismissal, the NLRB was left with two board members — one short of the three-member quorum that’s needed to take formal actions, like arbitrate disagreements between employees and employers or resolve contested union elections.

With Howell’s ruling, courts have handed the Trump administration several rejections to its recent attempted dismissals.

That said, Trump won one of the dismissal challenges this week. Hampton Dellinger, the former head of the Office of Special Counsel, dropped his termination lawsuit Thursday after an appeals court stayed a lower-court order requiring him to be reinstated.

The firings appeared to have been designed to challenge federal laws that limit the president’s power to remove the heads or board members of independent agencies.