Supreme Court Halts Reinstatement of Wilcox and Harris for Now

On May 22, the Supreme Court granted the federal government’s application for a stay, effectively blocking a lower court order that had permitted two former board officials to remain in their positions during ongoing litigation.

President Donald Trump removed Gwynne Wilcox from her seat on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Jan. 27, despite her term being set to continue through August 2028. Wilcox then filed suit, alleging that her dismissal was unlawful. Similarly, on Feb. 10, Trump dismissed Cathy Harris as a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). Harris also challenged her removal in court.

In its order, the Supreme Court wrote that “because the Constitution vests the executive power in the President, see Art. II, §1, cl. 1, he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf, subject to narrow exceptions recognized by our precedents.”

While the court did not rule on the ultimate merits of the case — specifically, whether the NLRB and MSPB posts fall under those “narrow exceptions” — it noted that “the stay reflects our judgment that the Government is likely to show that both the NLRB and MSPB exercise considerable executive power.”

The court added that, in balancing harms, “the Government faces greater risk of harm from an order allowing a removed officer to continue exercising the executive power than a wrongfully removed officer faces from being unable to perform her statutory duty.”

Legal proceedings on the underlying constitutional and statutory questions are expected to continue.