A federal judge permanently reinstated Cathy Harris to her position on the Merit Systems Protection Board on Tuesday, finding that President Donald Trump had unlawfully fired her.
“The MSPB’s independence would evaporate if the President could terminate its members without cause, even if a court could later order them reinstated,” U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras of Washington, D.C., an Obama appointee, ruled.
Under federal law, the president can only fire Harris for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Instead, she was fired without any reason given in a one-sentence email. The Trump administration never tried to argue that Harris was fired for cause, and the judge’s ruling was consistent with existing Supreme Court precedent. The case is part of a larger Trump administration aim of getting the Supreme Court to overturn its own precedent and expand executive power over independent boards and commissions.
The MSPB, which adjudicates improper treatment of federal civil service workers, is part of a category of independent agencies that still enjoys job protections and long, overlapping terms to insulate its agency leaders from partisan retribution. In recent years, the Supreme Court has chipped away at those protections at other differently structured agencies, and the Trump administration is pushing for them to be wiped out altogether. Such a ruling would bring the entire executive branch under the president’s direct control and sideline Congress’ efforts to hold the president accountable.
The MSPB has become particularly important in recent weeks, as it’s been slammed with complaints from the mass of purged federal workers Trump and Elon Musk have left in their wake.
Contreras noted that, while a Trump takeover of the agency would not meaningfully advance his political agenda, it would allow “high-ranking government officials to engage in prohibited practices and then pressure the MSPB into inaction.” In other words, the functioning of the agency depends on its insulation from political backlash — which is why Congress made its leaders difficult to fire.
Contreras’ permanent reinstatement of Harris comes less than 24 hours after a hearing at which the Justice Department urged him to allow Trump to fill the vacancy left by the unlawful firing — even if Harris ultimately wins the case. Contreras rejected the plea, finding that remedies like back pay wouldn’t meaningfully resolve Harris’ injury.
“This is not a standard employment action that can be remedied through back pay and later reinstatement, and Harris’s claims do not revolve around her salary,” he ruled.
Trump’s DOJ has already appealed the judge’s previous order temporarily restoring Harris to her position to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump could still fire Harris for cause, as Congress outlined. The judge noted, though, that Harris and her two co-members had impressively cleared a 3,800-case backlog in about three years, after the board had long stagnated, lacking a quorum needed to operate.
Contreras added that, given the recent resignation of the other Democrat on the board and the expiration of Harris’ term in March 2028, Trump will legally get the opportunity to appoint two more members eventually.
“Congress intended the MSPB and its members to carry out their limited duties with a degree of independence from the President, guided primarily by his selection of members for the multimember board rather than ‘the Damocles’ sword of removal,’” he wrote.
The Supreme Court precedent protecting Harris’ tenure, at least for now, he added, is “alive and well.”
Read the order here:
