The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday lifted a lower-court injunction that had blocked former President Donald Trump from dismissing two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. In an unsigned order, a three-judge panel said the statute creating the watchdog does not expressly limit presidential removal authority, allowing the administration to proceed with the firings while litigation continues. Judges Gregory Katsas, Neomi Rao and Justin Walker wrote that Congress must clearly restrict a president’s power to remove principal officers, and that the PCLOB’s enabling law contains no such language. The panel rejected a district court’s analogy to multimember independent agencies protected under the Supreme Court’s 1935 Humphrey’s Executor decision, noting the privacy board lacks adjudicatory functions and therefore does not merit similar tenure safeguards. The case, LeBlanc v. U.S. Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board (No. 25-05197), is among several challenges testing the scope of presidential control over independent bodies. The board members, represented by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP, can seek further review, but for now the ruling reinstates Trump’s authority to remove them.
A federal appeals court gave President Trump tentative approval Tuesday to move ahead with firing members of a watchdog privacy board, saying a president shouldn't be saddled with underlings he doesn't want. https://t.co/CMh2m46gd8
Appeals court backs Trump on firing members of government’s privacy board https://t.co/SMDSNONsGa https://t.co/CoSulbaxWs
Pardoned Man Can't Challenge FDIC's Felon Hiring Ban Under Pseudonym, DC Circuit Rules https://t.co/Ubo2o0ufDC https://t.co/kejwkC8k9k