Boyle v. Trump

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is a federal agency that protects consumers against dangerous products by issuing product-safety standards, recalling hazardous products, and conducting product-safety investigations and research. Under the Consumer Product Safety Act, the CPSC has five Commissioners who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to serve staggered, seven-year terms. To ensure the CPSC’s independence, Congress provided that Commissioners can be removed by the President prior to the end of their terms only “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office but for no other cause.”

On May 8 and 9, 2025, President Trump purported to terminate three Commissioners—Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and Richard Trumka Jr.—before their terms had expired. The President gave no reason for the terminations, and there was no suggestion of neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.

On behalf of Commissioners Boyle, Hoehn-Saric, and Trumka, Public Citizen filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging their terminations as contrary to the Act and outside the President’s constitutional and statutory authority. The complaint seeks to have the terminations declared unlawful and to have the Commissioners restored to their roles so that they can continue their important consumer-safety work.

In an decision issued on June 13, the district court granted our motion for summary judgment. The court held that the Commissioners’ purported terminations were unlawful and ordered that they be allowed to return to work.