A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., was skeptical on Friday of the government’s arguments about President Donald Trump‘s authority to fire members of independent boards.
Justice Department lawyers contended during a hearing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that Trump is within his constitutional right to fire National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris.
Wilcox and Harris sued the Trump administration, arguing the president does not have the authority to remove them because Congress designed the agencies to be independent of the executive. A lower district court ruled the firings were illegal, but the Supreme Court allowed them to go forward as the case makes its way through the courts.
The three-judge panel that heard the arguments included two Trump appointees, Judges Justin Walker and Gregory Katsas, and one Biden appointee, Judge Florence Pan. During Friday’s oral arguments, Pan was the most critical of the government’s position that Trump can remove Wilcox and Harris from their posts.
