President Donald Trump just scored a big win at the Supreme Court. The justices upheld his decision to fire two Democratic appointees from federal boards, reinforcing the president's power to shape his administration. This ruling, though, comes with a sly nod that even Trump might not get to touch Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
The court’s decision on Thursday settled a heated dispute over Trump’s removal of Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board and Cathy Harris from the Merit Systems Protection Board. Both were Biden appointees, abruptly shown the door in 2025. It’s a clear signal: the president’s authority over agency officials is robust, but not limitless.
Let’s rewind to the start of this saga. Wilcox and Harris, appointed by President Joe Biden, found themselves out of a job when the Trump administration took over. They didn’t go quietly, filing lawsuits in D.C. federal court, calling their terminations unlawful.
Their argument leaned on a 1935 Supreme Court ruling, Humphreys’ Executor, which said presidents can’t fire independent board members without cause. Wilcox’s lawyers warned her removal could grind the NLRB’s work to a halt, leaving labor disputes in limbo. Harris’s team cautioned that rushing the case might destabilize other legal precedents.
But the Trump administration wasn’t buying it. Their lawyers argued that reinstating Wilcox and Harris would strip the president of control over key parts of the Executive Branch. “The costs of such reinstatements are immense,” they said, and the Supreme Court agreed.
In April 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had other ideas. Voting 7-4, they ordered Wilcox and Harris restored to their posts, citing Humphrey’s Executor as precedent. The D.C. Circuit also shot down the Trump team’s request to keep the firings in place while the legal fight played out.
Not so fast, said the Supreme Court. The justices granted an emergency stay, blocking the reinstatement of Wilcox and Harris. Chief Justice John Roberts himself put a temporary hold on their return, setting the stage for Thursday’s final ruling.
The court’s three liberal justices—Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—weren’t thrilled. “Not since the 1950s has a President, without a legitimate reason, tried to remove an officer from a classic independent agency,” Kagan wrote. Her dissent smells of nostalgia for a bygone era of unchecked bureaucracy.
Kagan’s hand-wringing about a “subservient” administration misses the point. Voters elect presidents to lead, not to tiptoe around holdovers from the last guy. The majority’s ruling respects that reality, even if it stings for the progressive bench.
The Trump administration didn’t stop at Wilcox and Harris. In February 2025, they also fired Hampton Dellinger, a Biden appointee at the Office of Special Counsel, who claimed he could only be sacked for poor performance. Dellinger sued but dropped his case after the D.C. appellate court sided with Trump.
The Justice Department even signaled a bigger fight. In a letter to Senator Dick Durbin, they announced plans to challenge Humphrey’s Executor itself. That’s a bold move, aiming to reshape decades of precedent on presidential power.
Back to the Supreme Court’s ruling: it’s not a blank check for Trump. The justices hinted they’d likely block any attempt to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, whom Trump has criticized for not slashing interest rates fast enough. That’s a polite but firm line in the sand.
“Rushing such important matters risks making mistakes,” Harris’s lawyers warned, but the court didn’t bite. Their fear of destabilizing the law seems overblown when the alternative is paralyzing a president’s ability to govern. Actions, as they say, have consequences.
The D.C. Circuit’s judges had urged sticking to Supreme Court precedent “unless and until” it’s overturned. Well, the Supreme Court just spoke, and it’s clear they’re not afraid to let a president clean house. That’s a win for accountability, not chaos.
This ruling sets the tone for Trump’s term. He’s got the green light to align federal agencies with his vision, but the Powell caveat shows even he’s got limits. For now, it’s game on for the MAGA agenda, with a side of judicial restraint.
