Two independent labor agency officials fired by President Donald Trump will stay on the sidelines—and their agencies will remain crippled—as they seek an order from a full appeals court to return to service as litigation proceeds.
A divided three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Sunday declined to pause its own order that temporarily halted lower courts’ decisions reinstating National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris.
The panel decision rejecting Wilcox and Harris’ bids to temporarily reclaim their positions is the latest development in a pair of cases that appears to be moving to the US Supreme Court, in a test of the president’s power to fire independent agency officials despite statutory removal protections.
The panel split 2-1 along the same lines as it did when it agreed to stay the rulings to reinstate the fired board members. Judges Karen Henderson, a George H.W. Bush appointee, and Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, ruled in favor of the administration. Judge Patricia Millett, a Barack Obama appointee, sided with the board members.
Sunday’s unsigned order didn’t include any details on the panel’s reasoning.
Recent litigation has been focused on whether to freeze trial court decisions that deemed the terminations to be illegal and reinstated Wilcox and Harris during Trump administration challenges.
The fired board members could still ask the full D.C. Circuit to reconsider the Trump administration’s request to stay the reinstatement orders pending the administration’s appeal on the merits. Wilcox and Harris indicated in court filings that they would request full court review, though the denial of their bids for an administrative stay could change those plans.
Regardless of what happens in the fight over the reinstatement order taking effect, a D.C. Circuit merits panel is scheduled to consider the scope of presidential removal authority compared to the power of Congress to put limited restrictions on when an independent agency official can be dismissed. Oral argument is set for May 16.
The cases are Wilcox v. Trump, D.C. Cir., No. 25-05057, 3/31/25 and Harris v. Bessent, D.C. Cir., No. 25-05037, 3/31/25.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editor responsible for this story: