WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump did not have the authority to attempt to fire a member of the board responsible for protecting federal government employees from political reprisals or retaliation for whistleblowing, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.
Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, a Democrat, sued to keep her job after the White House told her last month that her position would be terminated.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that Trump, a Republican, doesn’t have the power to remove Harris from office “at will.” Trump’s attempt to fire her was illegal because he didn’t seek to remove her for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” the judge said.
Trusted news and daily delights, right in your inbox
See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories.
“Harris has undoubtedly experienced an injury to this independence in her capacity as a member of the MSPB following the President’s attempt to terminate her without cause, and any future attempts would prove just as harmful to that autonomy,” the judge wrote.
Contreras, who was nominated by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, and has served on the court since 2012, initially agreed on Feb. 18 to issue a temporary restraining order for Harris to continue chairing the three-member board until the court decides her case. After a hearing on Monday, the judge issued a permanent injunction extending that previous order.
Harris was appointed in 2022 and has chaired the board since last March. Her term was due to expire in March 2028, but the White House notified her of her firing on Feb. 12. A second board member, Raymond Limon, retired Friday.
Congress provided that the president can remove members of the board only for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, according to Harris’ attorneys. The one-sentence email that informed Harris of her firing didn’t cite any of those reasons, they said.
“There are hard constitutional cases where the law remains unsettled and the Supreme Court has not spoken. This case is not among them,” Harris’ attorneys wrote in a court filing.
Government attorneys argued that the court doesn’t have the authority to reinstate Harris or bar Trump from replacing her on the board.
“The American people elected President Trump to run the executive branch,” they wrote. “And President Trump has determined that keeping (Harris) in office no longer serves the best interests of the American people. That democratically accountable choice should be respected.”
The board’s administrative judges issue approximately 5,000 decisions annually. Trump’s recent executive orders regarding federal employees have led to a surge in new appeals over the past few weeks, according to Harris’ lawyers.
“Now more than ever, the Board’s actual impartiality and the appearance of impartiality are critical,” they wrote. “It is imperative that everyone — civil servants, courts, and the public at large — has confidence in the Board’s ability to do its job, free from fear or favor.”
The board’s three members are nominated by the president and are confirmed by the Senate. Members serve seven-year terms. No more than two of them may come from the same political party.
