Federal appeals court reverses itself to stop key Trump firings

A federal appeals court reversed course Monday and erased a previous decision that had allowed President Trump to fire the heads of two independent agencies, in a move that once again restores the two officers back to their jobs.

The ruling puts Cathy Harris back on the Merit Systems Protection Board and Gwynne Wilcox back on the National Labor Relations Board — for now.

The 7-4 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is a blow to President Trump, though the case is likely to speed to the Supreme Court for a final decision.

The “en banc” ruling — meaning the full court participated — overturned a 2-1 decision by a court panel late last month that had said Mr. Trump could keep Ms. Harris and Ms. Wilcox out of their jobs while they challenged their firings. The court refused to put its ruling on hold pending the expected Supreme Court appeal.

The majority, in an unsigned order, acknowledged the thorny questions and Mr. Trump’s claims of power, but said precedent is clear that the president’s firing powers are limited.

“The Supreme Court has repeatedly told the courts of appeals to follow extant Supreme Court precedent unless and until that Court itself changes it or overturns it,” the majority said.

Mr. Trump is going up against a 90-year-old Supreme Court ruling, known as the Humphrey’s Executor case, in which President Franklin Roosevelt sought to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission over policy differences. The Supreme Court ruled that firing was illegal, saying Congress had the power to insulate some office-holders from removal except in cases of good cause, such as malfeasance.

The president argues that constrains his powers to control the executive branch.

Judge Naomi Rao, one of the four dissenting judges, said the court was wrongly rushing to “get Harris and Wilcox back to work.”

“Without considering the difficult questions regarding the scope of the court’s equitable or legal authority, the en banc majority blesses the district court’s unprecedented injunctions and purports to reinstate principal officers ousted by the president. In so doing, the majority threatens to send this court headlong into a clash with the executive,” Judge Rao wrote.