Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. gave President Trump a temporary win on Wednesday, agreeing to halt lower court orders telling the administration to reinstate agency heads that Mr. Trump fired after taking office.
In an order, Chief Justice Roberts said lower court rulings against the administration’s firings were put on hold while the petition for review is considered, and ordered the respondents to file a response to Mr. Trump’s court filing by April 15.
The order comes hours after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to block a lower court order over reinstating fired members of the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board.
The key issue is whether agency heads like the NLRB’s Gwynne Wilcox and the MSPB’s Cathy Harris can be fired by a president at will or whether they are insulated by Congress from dismissal.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the high court that it’s wrong for lower courts to leave these people in their posts under the president’s authority.
“The President’s ’power to remove — and thus supervise — those who wield executive power on his behalf’ stands among his ’core constitutional powers,’” Mr. Sauer argued in his court filing. “It is ’conclusive and preclusive,’ and thus untouchable by Congress.
“Until this Administration, no court had ever ordered the reinstatement of a concededly executive officer removed by the President,” he added.
Ms. Wilcox was removed from the NLRB after Mr. Trump said she had not been operating in a manner consistent with his objectives. Ms. Harris was fired from the MSPB.
The NLRB, established in 1935 by Congress, is composed of five members who serve five-year terms. Under the law, they can be removed by the president for negligence or malfeasance.
Congress established the MSPB under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978. It is composed of three members who serve seven-year terms, and no more than two members can be from the same political party. It oversees employment disputes and disciplinary actions of federal employees.
Both Ms. Wilcox and Ms. Harris were Biden appointees.
