Trump's firing of feds' civil liberties watchdog was illegal, judge rules

Yet another of President Trump’s firings was found illegal Wednesday, when a federal judge ruled he overstepped in ousting members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, a privacy watchdog.

Judge Reggie B. Walton, a George W. Bush appointee to the court in Washington, said Congress intended for the board’s members to be insulated from the political whims of the occupant of the White House. That meant they can only be booted for good cause.

Mr. Trump provided no such explanation in his firings, so they were “unlawful.”

“To hold otherwise would be to bless the President’s obvious attempt to exercise power beyond that granted to him by the Constitution and shield the Executive Branch’s counterterrorism actions from independent oversight, public scrutiny, and bipartisan congressional insight regarding those actions,” Judge Walton decided.

The PCLOB was established after the 2001 terrorist attacks and granted special investigative powers to look into government actions that may violate civil rights.

It has helped expose overreach in government snooping programs and investigated facial-recognition tools used in airport security.

Initially, the PCLOB was a clear part of the Executive Branch, but Congress changed that to make it more clearly a watchdog on the executive. Judge Walton said that cries out for independence from being able to be fired by the president.

The lawsuit was brought by Travis LeBlanc and Edward Felten. Mr. LeBlanc has served since 2019 and his term was to last until 2028. Mr. Felton has served since 2018 and his term ended Jan. 29, but he’s allowed to stay through next January unless a successor is appointed.

Mr. Trump’s firing spree has been largely met with resistance in lower courts, though appellate courts have been somewhat more deferential.