Supreme Court Upholds Trump's Firing of Labor Board Member

The Supreme Court of the United States declined on Monday to hear an appeal from Gwynne Wilcox, a Democratic-appointed member of the National Labor Relations Board. The refusal upholds a lower court ruling that Donald Trump acted within his executive authority when he removed Wilcox from her position in January 2025.

This legal outcome follows a December 2025 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which reversed an initial district court ruling that had protected labor board officials from being fired without cause. The court's stance aligns with a June ruling regarding the firing of Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter. That previous decision overturned a 1935 precedent that had historically shielded regulatory agency leaders from at-will removal by the president.

The removal of Wilcox was part of a broader strategy by the president to downsize the federal government and install loyalists in key regulatory positions.