A divided federal appeals court ruled on Dec. 5 that President Donald Trump may fire members of independent labor boards.

The 2-1 ruling in Harris v. Bessent was issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

A lower court had previously upheld the constitutionality of federal laws that prevent presidents from removing members of the boards without cause. Among the reasons a board member may be fired are neglect of duty or “malfeasance” in office.

The circuit court ruled that the president may fire Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) before their terms expire.

Wilcox was appointed to the NLRB by President Joe Biden in 2021 after Senate confirmation. She was reappointed in 2023. Under the National Labor Relations Act, the NLRB hears complaints about employers engaged in alleged unfair labor practices.

Trump ordered Wilcox fired on Jan. 27 and notified her by email.

The email said the NLRB was “not presently fulfilling its responsibility to the American people,” and that it would be in a better position to comply with administration objectives “with personnel of [Trump’s] own selection.” The email said Wilcox “had not, in [Trump’s] judgment, been operating in a manner consistent with the objectives of [his] administration.”

The email also said that several of Wilcox’s decisions were improper because they raised “serious First Amendment concerns” and “vastly exceeded the bounds of the National Labor Relations Act.”

Harris, a member of the MSPB, a civil service review board, was appointed by Biden in 2022 after Senate confirmation. In 2024, Biden elevated her to the chairmanship of the board.

The board describes itself on its website as “an independent, quasi-judicial agency in the Executive branch that serves as the guardian of Federal merit systems.” The MSPB also reviews rules handed down by the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees federal employees.

Harris was fired by Trump on Feb. 10. The White House notified her by email that her position was “terminated, effective immediately.”

In the new majority opinion, Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas wrote that the issue is whether Congress “may constitutionally prohibit the President from removing members of the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board without cause.”

“Congress cannot restrict the President’s ability to remove NLRB or MSPB members” because the two boards wield “substantial executive power,” Katsas wrote.

Circuit Judge Florence Pan filed a dissenting opinion.

“The public is well served when some parts of our government are insulated from the fray of politics,” she wrote. “That is because certain government functions are, or should be, nonpartisan.”

Although the government argues it is upholding the separation of powers, “its theory instead concentrates excessive power in the President and thus paves the way to autocracy,” Pan wrote.

The separation of powers is a constitutional doctrine that divides the government into three branches to prevent any single branch from accumulating too much power.

The Trump administration previously obtained a stay from the Supreme Court that formally blocked the lower court injunction that prevented Trump from firing Harris and Wilcox.

That high court ruling of May 22 stated that the orders issued by the D.C. Circuit Court were “stayed pending the disposition of the appeal” in that court.

That order “reflects our judgment that the Government is likely to show that both the NLRB and MSPB exercise considerable executive power,” the Supreme Court order said.

“The stay also reflects our judgment that the Government faces greater risk of harm from an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty.

“A stay is appropriate to avoid the disruptive effect of the repeated removal and reinstatement of officers” while the litigation continues, the order said.

The D.C. Circuit Court ruling comes as the Supreme Court prepares to hear oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter on Dec. 8.

Trump fired Federal Trade Commission (FTC) member Rebecca Slaughter on March 18. In a letter explaining the decision, the White House said keeping her in place would be inconsistent with the Trump administration’s priorities.

Trump’s ousting of Slaughter and other federal officials is part of the president’s ongoing effort to remove some personnel from independent federal agencies whose appointees traditionally have been shielded from termination without cause.

Slaughter, former chief counsel to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), was first appointed by Trump in 2018 to a seat reserved for Democrats on the FTC and was then reappointed in 2023 by Biden.

The high court will consider whether to overturn Humphrey’s Executor v. United States (1935), which upheld a federal law preventing the president from removing FTC members without cause.

A decision in the case is expected by the end of June 2026.