Trump Firings Leave Independent Panels in Limbo, Legal Turmoil

President Donald Trump ousting key members of independent panels governing labor and antidiscrimination laws will kneecap the agencies’ powers and potentially taint the legitimacy of future decisions, attorneys and legal scholars say.

Both the National Labor Relations Board and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are now without a quorum of members after a series of terminations. Trump fired Democratic NLRB Member Wilcox and General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo late Jan. 27. Over the course of the next day, news broke that former EEOC Commissioner Jocelyn Samuels, former Chair Charlotte Burrows, and general counsel Karla Gilbride were also fired.

While both ...