The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has dismantled long-standing congressional barriers that shielded unaccountable bureaucrats from the people’s elected leader.
On Friday, a three-judge panel ruled 2-1 that President Donald J. Trump, and any future commander-in-chief, has the unfettered right to remove members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) without cause.
The decision, penned by Circuit Judge Neomi Rao Katsas and joined by Judge Justin Walker, both appointed by Trump, reverses lower court rulings that had propped up these “for cause” removal protections as relics of a bygone era.
“Congress may not restrict the President’s ability to remove principal officers who wield substantial executive power,” Judge Katsas wrote, invoking the Supreme Court’s landmark 2020 ruling in Seila Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
At issue were two consolidated challenges: one from Cathy A. Harris, a holdover MSPB member suing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and another from Gwynne A. Wilcox, an NLRB commissioner targeting President Trump and NLRB Chairman Marvin E. Kaplan.
In January, President Trump fired Biden-appointed Democrat chair of the National Labor Relations Board Gwynne Wilcox and the general counsel of the board.
Both sued to get their jobs back, claiming federal statutes protected them from removal unless the President could prove “cause.”
District courts sided with the bureaucrats and ruled Trump had overstepped.
Judge Beryl Howell compared Trump to a “king” or “dictator” and said the president does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board.
Also, Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee with a history of anti-Trump bias, reinstated Cathy Harris, the Democrat chairwoman of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB).
But the D.C. Circuit flatly rejected that reasoning.
The court systematically dismantled the argument that the NLRB and MSPB were “independent” agencies similar to the old 1930s-era Federal Trade Commission discussed in Humphrey’s Executor.
Instead, the judges found that both agencies exercise core executive functions, including:
• Broad rulemaking authority
The NLRB may issue binding regulations that reshape collective bargaining nationwide.
• Policy-driven adjudications
Far from merely ‘calling balls and strikes,’ the NLRB frequently rewrites national labor policy through its case decisions. The court noted the agency “routinely invokes policy considerations” and reverses itself depending on political composition.
• Affirmative enforcement powers
Unlike the 1935 FTC, which could only issue cease-and-desist orders, the NLRB can impose reinstatement, backpay, and even damages-like remedies.
• Litigation authority independent of the DOJ
The NLRB can bring enforcement cases directly in federal court.
• Authority over national union elections
The Board, not the President or courts, decides bargaining-unit structures and oversees elections that determine the fate of unions nationwide.
The MSPB, meanwhile, enjoys even broader powers, including the authority to overturn federal agency disciplinary actions, impose penalties on federal employees, and award damages, reinstatement, and attorney’s fees.
The D.C. Circuit explicitly anchored its ruling in the Supreme Court’s recent blockbuster decisions—Seila Law, Collins v. Yellen, and Trump v. United States—which reaffirm that the President must be able to remove executive officials who wield significant authority.
The opinion noted that the Supreme Court itself already signaled this outcome earlier in 2025 when it stayed the lower courts’ reinstatement orders, stating it was likely the NLRB and MSPB “exercise considerable executive power,” making the removal protections unconstitutional.
It can be recalled that Justice Roberts granted a stay on the lower court’s order reinstating the Biden holdovers.
Read the ruling below:
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