Wilcox Challenges Labor Board Ouster by Trump in Lawsuit (1)

Former NLRB member Gwynne Wilcox has sued over her unprecedented removal from the board by President Donald Trump, in a case that could test the limits of presidential authority over independent agencies.

Wilcox said her termination violated the National Labor Relations Act’s requirement that the president can fire National Labor Relations Board members only “upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause,” according to her lawsuit filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

“When Congress established the National Labor Relations Board almost 90 years ago, it made sure that the law would protect its independence from political influence,” she said in a statement. “My removal, without cause or process, directly violates that law.”

Wilcox, a Democratic appointee who became the first Black woman to serve on the NLRB in 2021, won Senate approval in 2023 for a second term that would have run out in 2028.

She seeks a court order to reinstate her as a member of the board.

Wilcox’s lawsuit is poised to be a vehicle for the US Supreme Court to reconsider its 90-year-old precedent that authorizes for-cause removal protections at a host of agencies governed by bipartisan, multi-member bodies, such as the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission—even the Federal Reserve System.

Trump has argued that a 2020 Supreme Court decision striking down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau director’s firing shield permitted his move to ax Wilcox.

But Trump’s removal of Wilcox is clearly illegal under current law, and won’t survive legal challenge unless the Supreme Court overturns its 1935 decision in Humphrey’s Executor v. US, according to administrative law scholars.

That binding high court precedent will likely mean that her case advances quickly through the lower courts and up to the justices.

Wilcox was fired in Trump’s purge of Democrats from independent workplace agencies a week into his second term. Trump also sacked NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, as well as two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members and that agency’s general counsel.

Trump’s firing spree robbed the NLRB and EEOC of their quorums, leaving them largely unable to take actions necessary to enforce laws governing organizing rights and anti-discrimination protections.

Wilcox is represented by Gupta Wessler LP, a boutique litigation firm that frequently represents consumers and employees before the Supreme Court.

The plaintiffs-side firm has notched notable victories, even with a court dominated by business-friendly conservatives. Just last term, Gupta Wessler attorneys won two unanimous rulings for homeowners and transportation workers suing large corporations.

Wilcox sued Trump and Marvin Kaplan, the Republican chair of the NLRB.

NLRB spokesperson Teddy Quinn declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The case is Wilcox v. Trump, D.D.C., No. 25-00334, lawsuit filed 2/5/25.