MARCH 6, 2025
President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 4, 2025. – Alex Brandon/AP
A federal judge on Thursday shot down President Donald Trump’s effort to oust a member of the National Labor Relations Board.
In a fiery ruling, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell wrote that Trump is trying to carry out a “power grab,” adding that his “interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power—or, more aptly, his aspiration—is flat wrong.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email.
The Context
Since taking office, Trump and billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have carried out drastic cuts to the federal workforce in an effort to rapidly shrink the size of the federal government and usher in political appointees Trump believes will be loyal to his agenda.
One of the targets of those cuts was Gwynne Wilcox, who was nominated for the NLRB by then-President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate in September 2023. Wilcox sued Trump and Marvin Kaplan, the current chairman of the NLRB, afterward, alleging that her firing was a “blatant violation” of federal law, which says NLRB members can only be removed for misconduct or negligence.
What To Know
Howell on Thursday sided with Wilcox in no uncertain terms.
“A President who touts an image of himself as a ‘king’ or a ‘dictator,’ perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the U.S. Constitution,” the judge wrote in a 36-page ruling. “In our constitutional order, the President is tasked to be a conscientious custodian of the law, albeit an energetic one, to take care of effectuating his enumerated duties, including the laws enacted by the Congress and as interpreted by the Judiciary.”
Trump has insisted “that he has authority to fire whomever he wants within the Executive branch, overriding any congressionally mandated law in his way,” Howell added.
“Luckily, the Framers, anticipating such a power grab, vested in Article III, not Article II, the power to interpret the law, including resolving conflicts about congressional checks on presidential authority,” she wrote. “The President’s interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power—or, more aptly, his aspiration—is flat wrong.”
What People Are Saying
Wilcox said outside the courthouse after the ruling: “I’m ready to get back to work. It’s not just about me, but I’m glad to be the face of this fight.”
The White House defended its decision to fire Wilcox, telling the Washington Post in January: “These were far-left appointees with radical records of upending longstanding labor law, and they have no place as senior appointees in the Trump administration, which was given a mandate by the American people to undo the radical policies they created.”
What Happens Next
Wilcox’s lawyer, Deepak Gupta, said he believes they’ll have a long fight ahead. The Trump administration appealed Howell’s ruling shortly after it came down.
Courtesy/Source: Newsweek
