WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 Two board members fired by President Donald Trump can go back to their jobs for now, a split appeals court ruled Monday ahead of a likely Supreme Court showdown on the president鈥檚 power over independent agencies.
An appeals court in the nation's capital handed down the 7-4 decision in brought by two women separately fired from agencies that both deal with labor issues, including one with a key role for a federal workforce Trump is aiming to drastically downsize.
The order relies largely on a 90-year-old Supreme Court decision known as , which found that presidents can't fire independent board members without cause.
But that ruling has long rankled conservative legal theorists who argue it wrongly curtails the president's power, and experts say the current conservative majority on the Supreme Court may be poised to overturn it.
鈥淭he Supreme Court has repeatedly told the courts of appeals to follow extant Supreme Court precedent unless and until that Court itself changes it or overturns it,鈥 the majority wrote in an unsigned opinion. All 7 members of the majority were appointed by Democratic presidents. The four dissenters are Republican appointees, including three named by Trump in his first term.
The vote was closer, 6-5, over whether to pause the decision for a week to let the Trump administration appeal to the Supreme Court right away.
The ruling isn't a final decision on the legal merits of the case, but it does reverse from a three-judge panel from the same U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that had allowed the firings to go forward.
Former President Joe Biden nominated both of the fired board members. Cathy Harris is from the Merit Systems Protection Board, which reviews disputes from federal workers and could be a significant stumbling block as the Trump administration seeks to carry out a dramatic downsizing of the workforce.
Gwynne Wilcox, meanwhile, has served on the 好色tv Labor Relations Board, which resolves hundreds of unfair labor practice cases every year. The five-member board lacked a quorum after Wilcox鈥檚 removal.
Government lawyers have argued that Trump can remove both board members. In , they said reinstatement "works a grave harm to the separation of powers and undermines the President鈥檚 ability to exercise his authority under the Constitution.鈥
They that MSPB members like Harris are removable 鈥渁t will鈥 by the president.
Trump couldn鈥檛 fire her without notice, a hearing or identifying any 鈥渘eglect of duty or malfeasance in office鈥 on her part. They argued that the administration鈥檚 鈥渙nly path to victory鈥 is to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to 鈥渁dopt a more expansive view of presidential power.鈥
Wilcox was the first Black woman to serve on the five-member board in its 90-year history. The Senate confirmed Wilcox for a second five-year term in September 2023.
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Associated Press writer Mark Sherman contributed to this story.
