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BumRushDaShow

(165,763 posts) Thu Mar 6, 2025, 04:01 PM Mar 2025

Court rules Trump's firing of labor board chief illegal, saying president is not a king

Source: The Guardian

Thu 6 Mar 2025 15.59 EST
First published on Thu 6 Mar 2025 15.55 EST

A federal court ruled that Donald Trump’s abrupt firing of a former senior official at the top US labor watchdog was illegal, and ordered that she be reinstated. Gwynne Wilcox was the first member of the National Labor Relations Board to be removed by a US president since the board’s inception in 1935.

The framers of the US constitution “made clear that no one in our system of government was meant to be king – the President included – and not just in name only”, the judge Beryl A Howell, wrote in the ruling.

Howell presided over the hearing held yesterday on a motion for summary judgment in the District of Columbia. “The President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire plaintiff from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law,” she wrote.

Wilcox filed the lawsuit early last month, alleging her removal was a “blatant violation” of the National Labor Relations Act, which stipulates that members of the board can only be removed for negligence or misconduct. Her removal left the board with only two members, lacking the quorum of at least three members required to rule on cases.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/trump-labor-board-firing-gwynne-wilcox

5 replies

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Court rules Trump's firing of labor board chief illegal, saying president is not a king (Original Post) BumRushDaShow Mar 2025 OP

Trump Violated Federal Law in Removing Labor Board Chair, Judge Finds LetMyPeopleVote Mar 2025 #1

Excellent! Thank you Judge Howell for reaffirming the bedrock principle our democracy was founded on. benfranklin1776 Mar 2025 #2

"The President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will..." LudwigPastorius Mar 2025 #3

Outstanding ruling by Judge Howell. Paladin Mar 2025 #4

I was about to say... Wednesdays Mar 2025 #5

LetMyPeopleVote

(174,963 posts)

1. Trump Violated Federal Law in Removing Labor Board Chair, Judge Finds

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Mar 6, 2025, 04:04 PM

Mar 2025

This makes me smile

Link to tweet

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-labor-board-wilcox-dismissal-illegal-judge/

A federal judge ruled Trump violated federal law last month in dismissing the chair of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which safeguards employees’ rights to organize unions and prevents unfair labor practices.

It’s another setback for Trump’s goal of expanding presidential power over independent federal agencies that Congress designed to operate without direct control from the White House. However, Thursday’s ruling increases the likelihood that challenges to Trump’s dismissals will continue to go before the Supreme Court.

D.C. District Court Judge Beryl Howell ruled the Trump administration violated the 1935 National Labor Relations Act by firing NLRB Chair Gwynne Wilcox without cause. The law states that a member “may be removed by the President, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause.”

When Wilcox was removed, there were two NLRB seats already vacant, meaning Trump had the opportunity to nominate two officials and return the board to a Republican majority.

After Wilcox’s dismissal, the NLRB was left with two board members — one short of the three-member quorum that’s needed to take formal actions, like arbitrate disagreements between employees and employers or resolve contested union elections.

benfranklin1776

(6,987 posts)

2. Excellent! Thank you Judge Howell for reaffirming the bedrock principle our democracy was founded on.

Reply to BumRushDaShow (Original post)

Thu Mar 6, 2025, 04:08 PM

Mar 2025

Now the NLRB can resume its rightful independent role in enforcing the National Labor Relations Act and protecting each and every worker who exercises his or her fundamental right to engage in concerted activity regarding their wages, hours and conditions of employment. ✊🏼Everything people like Agent orange and his underboss the South African Nazi are committed to destroying. 😡