Tag Archives: Merit Systems Protection Board

The Nation: The Supreme Court Gifts Trump Even More Power

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The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.

The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.

Here’s a troubling news alert for everyone who cares about workers and consumers being protected from illegal, exploitative, and dangerous business practices: The Supreme Court appears ready to give President Donald Trump extraordinary power over what for nearly a century have been independent expert federal worker and consumer protection agencies insulated from White House interference.

The court showed its hand in Wilcox v. Trump—the case involving Trump’s unprecedented effort to fire Gwynne Wilcox—a Senate-confirmed member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the first Black woman to ever serve as a member of the NLRB.

Members of independent agencies like the NLRB, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), are nominated by the president and confirmed by the US Senate for defined terms. They are protected by law against being removed from office except where there has been wrongdoing and only after notice and a hearing. The Supreme Court has recognized and respected these “for cause” removal protections for 90 years.

That is, until now. Upon taking office for his second term, Trump decided that he has the power to unilaterally remove members of independent boards and commissions whenever and for whatever reason he wants. The list of casualties is long—in addition to Wilcox, he has fired members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the FTC, the CPSC, the Merit Systems Protection Board, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and more. And by firing these officials, Trump has left these consumer- and worker-protection agencies without a quorum to act and hold corporations accountable.

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The court’s order is going to embolden a president who has already shown himself willing to push or violate the boundaries of his power. Now that the Supreme Court has nodded at his power to fire members of independent boards and commissions, he will undoubtably continue to do so, even before the Supreme Court definitively rules on the merits of the question in its next term.

The Supreme Court Gifts Trump Even More Power
The court seems ready to give the president extraordinary power over what had been independent worker- and consumer-protection agencies.

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/wilcox-trump-federal-agencies

Raw Story: ‘Rubber-stamping’ Supreme Court just shot itself in the foot: analyst

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Legal experts are claiming that the U.S. Supreme Court may come to regret its emergency “shadow docket” decision allowing President Donald Trump to fire members of two federal boards — a move that was considered illegal.

Without hearing the merits of the case, the court issued its ruling Thursday that permitted Trump to fire a member of the National Labor Relations Board and a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, an agency that ensures federal employment decisions are not influenced by politics.

In a preview of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast, legal journalist Mark Joseph Stern exclaimed, “He illegally fired people, and the Supreme Court just rubber-stamped it!”

Stern explained that the 6-3 ruling along conservative and liberal lines will empower Trump “to disregard the law in areas where the Supreme Court doesn’t want him to. And eventually, when the Supreme Court tells him he can’t do something, he might just say: You’ve already given me so much power that I’m going to choose not to respect yours any further.”

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“So, magically, this decision does not apply to Jerome Powell, who gets to remain chair of the Fed.”

Raw Story: ‘Rubber-stamping’ Supreme Court just shot itself in the foot: analyst

https://www.rawstory.com/scotus-decisions

MSNBC: Divided Supreme Court backs Trump’s power to fire independent agency members

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The Democratic appointees said in dissent that the majority “favors the President over our precedent.”

The Supreme Court backed President Donald Trump’s power to fire independent federal agency members over dissent from the court’s three Democratic appointees, who said the majority “favors the President over our precedent.”

The majority on Thursday highlighted the president’s executive power and said he can “remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf, subject to narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents.” The majority formally halted lower court orders against the government while litigation continues on the subject, with the majority saying that the government is likely to succeed in this case involving the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, but that the court isn’t making an ultimate determination now.r

So basically the Supreme Court is saying that King Donald can continue screwing things up with regard to firing and replacing most independent agency members, which will work to our advantage in the long run. Eventually King Donald’s ineptitude will catch up to him.

Divided Supreme Court backs Trump’s power to fire independent agency members
The Democratic appointees said in dissent that the majority “favors the President over our precedent.”

https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/deadline-legal-blog/supreme-court-trump-humphreys-precedent-agencies-rcna201176

Law & Crime: ‘No such power … is given to the President’: Full appeals court thwarts Trump’s firing of Biden-appointed board members, setting stage for SCOTUS showdown

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A federal appeals court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to oust members of two independent federal labor agencies in a pair of back-and-forth cases that will likely set the stage for a showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court and have a profound impact on President Donald Trump’s continued effort to slash the federal workforce.

In a 7-4 vote, the full panel of judges on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia blocked the president from removing Cathy A. Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), reasoning that they were improperly dismissed without cause.

“The government has not demonstrated the requisite ‘strong showing that [it] is likely [to] succeed on the merits’ of these two appeals,” the panel wrote in a three-page per curiam order. “The government likewise has not shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits of its claim that there is no available remedy for Harris or Wilcox, or that allowing the district court’s injunctions to remain in place pending appeal is impermissible.”

‘No such power … is given to the President’: Full appeals court thwarts Trump’s firing of Biden-appointed board members, setting stage for SCOTUS showdown
The full U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on Monday reinstated two members of federal labor boards that President Trump tried to fire. The post ‘No such power … is given to the President’: Full appeals court thwarts Trump’s firing of Biden-appointed board members, setting stage for SCOTUS showdown first appeared on Law & Crime.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/no-such-power-is-given-to-the-president-full-appeals-court-thwarts-trump-s-firing-of-biden-appointed-board-members-setting-stage-for-scotus-showdown/ar-AA1CsVw1