US President Donald Trump made the announcement on December 3, 2025, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump is free to fire members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit System Protection Board, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
The 2-1 ruling by a panel of judges in Washington, D.C., overturns a lower court ruling that blocked President Trump’s attempt to fire members of key labor and employment committees.
“Congress cannot limit the president’s ability to remove key officers exercising substantive executive powers,” the two-judge majority wrote, citing a 2020 case known as Seira Law LLC v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
They determined that another important case law cited in a previous decision in favor of removed directors did not apply to the NLRB and MSPB.
These committees “exercise substantive powers that are executive in nature and distinct from those subject to removal protection provided in the 1935 case known as Humphrey’s Executor,” the majority wrote.
“Thus, Congress cannot limit the President’s ability to remove members of the NLRB or MSPB,” wrote Judges Gregory Katsas and Justin Walker, who were appointed to the D.C. Circuit by President Trump.
The Trump administration is challenging a 90-year precedent set by the Humphries administration that limits the president’s ability to unilaterally remove the heads of certain independent government agencies. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Monday in a case that could determine whether Humphrey’s ruling is overturned.
Florence Pan, the third judge on the appeals panel, issued a strongly worded dissent, saying Friday’s ruling significantly increases the president’s powers.
“Today, my colleagues made us the first court to override the independence of a traditional multi-member professional body,” Pan, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, wrote.
“Based on my colleagues’ reasoning, it appears that no independent agency can legitimately exist in this country,” she wrote. “Their determination that MSPB cannot be independent suggests that no agency can be independent.”
Pan added that his colleagues are “redefining the type of executive power that should be under the president’s exclusive command, giving him effective control over some 33 previously independent agencies.”
Katsas and Walker noted that their opinion “does not address whether Congress can limit the president’s ability to remove members of the Federal Reserve Board.”
They pointed to a May Supreme Court decision that allowed President Trump to temporarily remove the NLRB and two members of the MSPB, but identified “a ‘unique historical tradition’ in the treatment of Congressional-chartered banks” that could affect Congress’ ability to limit the removal of officials.
President Trump has called on the central bank and Chairman Jerome Powell to quickly lower U.S. interest rates while attempting to remove Biden’s nominee, Fed Director Lisa Cook.
Cook filed a lawsuit to block her removal. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case on January 21st.
Katsas and Walker also pointed out that Friday’s ruling also does not address whether Congress can limit the president’s power to fire members from certain agencies that have “exclusive adjudicatory functions.”
They cited the War Claims Commission, an ad hoc body established after World War II to adjudicate compensation claims from American prisoners of war.
Katsas and Walker also wrote that they did not address “whether key executives who have been wrongfully removed may obtain declaratory, equitable, or coercive relief against the President or other government officials.”
