The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a bid by former National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox to challenge the legality of her firing by President Donald Trump. According to Reuters, the justices turned away Wilcox's appeal of a lower court's ruling that said the president's January 2025 firing of her was a valid exercise of executive authority.
The court's action follows its June decision backing Trump's firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic Federal Trade Commission member, which overturned the court's 1935 precedent in Humphrey's Executor that had recognized Congress's authority to protect leaders of certain regulatory agencies from presidential removal at will. Bloomberg Tax reports that the administration argued in its brief that the Slaughter decision made clear Wilcox's arguments had no merit. Wilcox had contended the NLRB and FTC differ in key ways, and that if parts of board members' authorities violate separation of powers, the court should sever them rather than invalidate removal protections.
Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the NLRB board, was appointed to a second five-year term in 2023 by former President Joe Biden, and Trump moved to fire her about a week into his second term. "I'm disappointed that the Supreme Court has declined to hear this case, not only for myself, but also for the workers and employers who rely on the National Labor Relations Board to resolve labor disputes impartially and free from political pressure," Wilcox said in a statement. The Justice Department declined to comment.