Fired Board Member Presses Full D.C. Circuit for Return (1)

An independent labor agency official fired by President Donald Trump has asked a full appeals court to revive a reinstatement order that a panel of judges halted.

Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris filed her request Monday at the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Harris also asked the circuit court to combine argument on the government’s motion to stay a federal judge’s reinstatment order with argument on the merits of the president’s authority to fire independent agency officials.

Harris petitioned the full appeals court after a divided D.C. Circuit panel froze trial court decisions holding that her removal—as well as the termination of National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox—were illegal and that they should be reinstated.

Neal Katyal, a Milbank LLP attorney who served as acting solicitor general during the Obama administration, is representing Harris in her appeal to the full D.C. Circuit.

Wilcox filed a similar request late Monday for both a rehearing of the panel’s stay order and en banc review of the merits.

The full D.C. Circuit has seven active judges appointed by Democratic presidents, and four appointed by Republican ones.

The motions panel, which is controlled by a Republican-appointed majority, on Sunday declined requests from the two members to pause its own ruling that stayed the reinstatement orders.

On March 28, the motions panel voted 2-1 to grant the Trump administration’s request to ground the two board members while it appeals the merits of the lower court rulings. Oral argument on the merits is scheduled for May 16.

The case is Harris v. Bessent, D.C. Cir., No. 25-05037, 3/31/25.