The United States Supreme Court has granted the Trump Administration’s request to stay United States District Court Judge Beryl Howell’s order reinstating Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and Cathy Harris to the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). The Trump Administration’s appeal of Judge Howell’s ruling is currently pending before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Supreme Court’s stay allows President Trump’s removal of Wilcox to stand pending the appeal’s disposition.
By way of background, Wilcox filed suit after President Trump removed her from the NLRB shortly after he took office in 2025. Wilcox challenged her removal, arguing that it defied the NLRA’s statutory just-cause protections for Board members. Harris filed a similar lawsuit after her removal from the MSPB, and the two cases were consolidated. District Court Judge Howell agreed with Wilcox and Harris and ordered that they be reinstated. The Trump Administration appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and sought a stay of Judge Howell’s reinstatement order pending the outcome of the appeal. A three-judge panel for the D.C. Circuit Court granted the stay and enjoined enforcement of Judge Howell’s order to reinstate Wilcox on the grounds that the NLRA’s just-cause restrictions on the president’s removal power were likely unconstitutional. The full D.C. Circuit Court subsequently reversed the three-judge panel’s stay and reordered that Wilcox be reinstated to the Board.
The Trump Administration appealed the denied stay to the Supreme Court, requesting that enforcement of Judge Howell’s reinstatement order be enjoined while the D.C. Circuit Court considers the case on the merits. On May 22, 2025, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., writing on behalf of the Supreme Court, granted the stay on the grounds that the Trump Administration is likely to show that both the NLRB and MSPB exercise certain delegated executive powers which the President can revoke at-will, absent “narrow exceptions.” Importantly, this ruling does not decide the issue of whether Wilcox or Harris’ removals fall within such a narrow exception to the general rule, but rather means that Wilcox and Harris will not be reinstated before the D.C. Circuit Court decides those issues.
Notably, in its decision, the Court drew a distinction between the Federal Reserve and the NLRB and MSPB, with the Federal Reserve being a “uniquely structured, quasi-private entity” that likely will qualify for an exception the President’s discretion to remove agency members without cause. This is particularly instructive to the current administration given President Trump’s recent comments suggesting that he might remove Jerome Powell from his position as Chair of the Federal Reserve.
The May 22 decision sheds light on how the Supreme Court interprets the statutory limitations to the President’s Constitutional authority to remove, without cause, members of independent agencies that exercise delegated executive power. Those agencies deemed to exercise “unique,” “quasi-private” qualities seem to fall into the exception. The NLRB and the MSPB may, or may not, fall into a recognized exception to the President’s removal power. Stay tuned for updates as we follow future proceedings in the D.C. Circuit Court case.
Authors: Michael Shoenfelt, Becca Hill, Morgan Davis