Harris v. Bessent / Wilcox v. Trump

Shortly after taking office, President Trump terminated Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), and Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Although federal statutes protect MSPB and NLRB members against removal without cause, the President offered no reason for removing either Ms. Harris or Ms. Wilcox. Both Ms. Harris and Ms. Wilcox filed lawsuits in federal district court, arguing that their removal was unlawful. The district courts in both cases agreed, and ordered Ms. Harris and Ms. Wilcox reinstated. The government appealed.

Public Citizen filed an amicus brief in support of the district courts’ judgments in the two cases. The brief explains that statutory removal protections for the principal officers of multimember adjudicatory bodies like the MSPB and NLRB are enforceable. Although the government argues that such protections unconstitutionally hinder the President’s management of the executive branch, the brief explains that this argument was considered and rejected nearly a century ago in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. That decision remains precedential, and it applies directly to the modern MSPB and NLRB.