A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that President Trump’s firing of two Democrats on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) were unlawful, deeming them “null and void.”
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said that PCLOB’s “responsibility” to oversee the government’s counterterrorism actions and policies and recommend changes is “incompatible” with at-will removal by the president.
He invalidated Trump’s firings of Travis LeBlanc and Edward Felten, two of PCLOB’s three Democratic members, after determining that the board’s structure and function “clearly indicate” that Congress meant to restrict the president’s removal power over its members. Trump also fired the third Democratic member, but her term was about to expire, so she did not join the other members’ legal challenge.
“To hold otherwise would be to bless the President’s obvious attempt to exercise power beyond that granted to him by the Constitution and shield the Executive Branch’s counterterrorism actions from independent oversight, public scrutiny, and bipartisan congressional insight regarding those actions,” Walton wrote in a 71-page ruling.
Trump fired the three Democrats just days after returning to the White House in January, bringing much of the board’s work to a standstill.
Established in response to the 9/11 Commission Report, following the 2001 terror attacks, the board was designed to ensure the government’s work to fight terrorism is balanced with protections for civil liberties.
The decision means that both LeBlanc and Felton can continue serving on the board until their terms end, unless the government appeals and a higher court rules differently.
Several of Trump’s firings have come under legal scrutiny, particularly regarding independent agency members. Most judges have deemed the firings unlawful, prompting appeals by the Justice Department.
The government has an emergency application pending at the Supreme Court seeking to halt summary judgment rulings reinstating fired Democrats on the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board.
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