The Supreme Court issued an order last Thursday that extending a previous order issued by Chief Justice John Roberts in April that barred National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox and Merits Systems Protection Board Member Cathy Harris from their jobs as they challenge their terminations in court. Justices Kagan, Sotomayor and Jackson dissented.
The order issued last week explains that because the Constitution vests the executive power in the president, pursuant to Article II, he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf. It states, “The stay reflects our judgment that the Government is likely to show that both the NLRB and MSPB exercise considerable executive power.” The order also disagrees with arguments made by Wilcox and Harris that their case also implicates the constitutionality of for-cause removal protections for members of the Federal Reserve, stating that the “Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”