A federal appeals court has cleared the way for President Trump to finally fire members of the labor and workforce protection boards.
President Trump previously fired Cathy Harris, the Democrat chairwoman of the Merit Systems Protection Board, a Biden holdover – she was then rehired by a corrupt Obama judge.
Trump also fired Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board – she was then rehired by a corrupt Obama judge.
The Trump DOJ fought back and a federal appeals court agreed that President Trump indeed has the authority to fire them without cause.
The three judge panel on the DC Circuit Court: Henderson (George W. Bush appointee), Millett (Obama appointee), and Walker (Trump appointee) sided with President Trump on Friday in a 2-1 vote and ordered the DOJ motions for stay be granted.
Judge Justin Walker, the Trump appointee, blasted Wilcox and Harris and defended voters in a scathing concurring opinion.
“Executive branch agencies do not disrupt that design when they are accountable to the President. “But consent of the governed is a sham if an administrative agency, by design, does not meaningfully answer for its policies to either of the elected branches.” That’s why the Supreme Court has said that Congress cannot restrict the President’s removal authority over agencies that “wield substantial executive power,” Judge Walker wrote in a scathing opinion.
“The people elected the president, not Harris or Wilcox, to execute the nation’s laws,” Judge Walker said. “The forcible reinstatement of a presidentially removed principal officer disenfranchises voters by hampering the president’s ability to govern during the four short years the people have assigned him the solemn duty of leading the executive branch.”
Earlier this month the Trump Justice Department filed an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal after a corrupt Obama judge reinstated a Biden-appointed labor board leader.
“This appeal arises from an order of the district court reinstating a principal officer of the United States whom the President has lawfully fired. The court’s unprecedented order works a grave harm to the separation of powers and undermines the President’s ability to exercise his authority under the Constitution. The government seeks a stay of the order pending appeal and respectfully requests an immediate administrative stay,” the DOJ wrote in the motion for a stay pending appeal.
A few weeks ago, a federal judge reinstated Labor Board leader Gwynne Wilcox and called Trump’s firing a “blatant violation of the law.”
In January President Trump fired Biden-appointed Democrat chair of the National Labor Relations Board Gwynne Wilcox and the general counsel of the board.
Trump’s decision to fire pro-union members Gwynne Wilcox and the labor board’s general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo got pushback from the agency and was described as an “unprecedented and illegal” move.
Gwynne Wilcox vowed to challenge Trump’s decision to fire her. In a previous statement to Reuters, Wilcox said she would pursue “all legal avenues” to challenge Trump’s firing.
US District Judge Beryl Howell, an Obama appointee, previously ruled Trump’s firing of Gwynne Wilcox was unlawful.
In a shocking 36-page opinion reviewed by The Gateway Pundit last week, 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.
Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee with a history of anti-Trump bias, said Trump’s decision to fire Cathy Harris, a member of an agency in the executive branch, exceeded his authority.
“Federal law states that members of the Merit Systems Protection Board may be removed from office “only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” On February 10, 2025, President Donald J. Trump informed Harris that her position on the MSPB was “terminated, effective immediately” but provided no reason for Harris’s termination,” Judge Contreras wrote in a 21-page opinion reviewed by The Gateway Pundit.
Judge Millet, the Obama appointee on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals dissented and said granting the Trump DOJ a stay will create chaos (it won’t).
