Trump's power to remove labor board official has limits, US judge suggests

By Blake Brittain and Daniel Wiessner

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Friday seemed deeply skeptical of a Trump administration lawyer's claim that she lacks the power to reverse President Donald Trump's removal of a Democratic member from a federal labor relations board.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan during a hearing in Washington, D.C., expressed frustration with claims by Alexander Resar of the U.S. Department of Justice that the constitutional separation of powers bars courts from forcing the president to reinstate someone even if they find that a firing was illegal.

"There is no recourse for a violation of law under your theory ... even though that would essentially wipe out Congress' role and the role of the courts. That is the government's position in this case?" the judge said.

Sooknanan is presiding over a lawsuit by Susan Tsui Grundmann claiming that her removal from the Federal Labor Relations Authority last month violated federal labor law.

The FLRA, which was created by Congress to be independent from the White House, hears disputes between federal agencies and their employees' unions. The agency could play a significant role in the numerous battles expected over the Trump administration's purge of the federal workforce and attempts to alter working conditions for federal employees.

Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired since Trump took office, part of an aggressive cost-cutting initiative spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, a top White House adviser.

Nearly 30% of federal employees are represented by unions, which typically gives them more legal protections than other government workers. Unions are generally required to bring legal disputes with agencies to the FLRA, preventing them from going to court first.

Last month, a federal judge in Washington, D.C. said he likely lacked the ability to hear a lawsuit by unions over the mass firings because their claims belonged at the FLRA.

Resar on Friday told Sooknanan that if she finds that Grundmann's firing was illegal, she would have the authority to award Grundmann backpay, but not to order her to be reinstated.

"How does back pay get the plaintiff back to her job —— a job Congress confirmed her for ... in an agency created for independence?" said Sooknanan, an appointee of Democratic President Joe Biden who joined the bench in January.

EXECUTIVE POWER

Trump fired Grundmann, a Biden appointee, on February 11 and did not provide a reason for doing so, according to court filings.

Without Grundmann, whose term is supposed to expire in July, the three-member FLRA has one Democratic member and one Republican. That means it can continue to decide cases, but could be deadlocked on contentious or novel issues that may arise from Trump's unprecedented purging of the federal workforce.

Grundmann in her lawsuit claims Trump violated a federal labor relations law that says FLRA members may only be removed "for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office."

Resar on Friday did not deny that Trump violated the law, but argued that the restrictions on the removal of FLRA members are unconstitutional.

The Justice Department has made the same claims in other lawsuits involving Trump's firing of officials from the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, which are independent agencies like the FLRA. Earlier this week, judges rejected those claims and ordered those agencies to reinstate the officials.

Sooknanan on Friday said the government in Grundmann's case seemed to be arguing that the president has an even more absolute power of removal, which she suggested would encroach on the powers of Congress. Resar said the only agency that was likely exempt from the president's power to fire officials was the Federal Reserve.

"The Constitution gives Congress substantial power to establish federal government offices, and dating back to our founding there is a well established tradition" of lawmakers designing agencies to be independent from the White House, she said.

Jon Greenbaum, who represents Grundmann, echoed the judge's comments. He noted that when the FLRA was created in 1979, the Watergate scandal that led Republican former President Richard Nixon to resign and raised concerns about the consequences of vast presidential power was "fresh in the minds of Congress."

The case is Grundmann v. Trump, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:25-cv-00425.

For Grundmann: Norman Eisen; Pooja Chaudhuri of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Jon Greenbaum of Justice Legal Strategies

For the government: Alexander Resar of the U.S. Department of Justice

Read more:

US government workplace officials turn to courts after Trump fires them

US judge reinstates Democratic labor board member fired by Trump

Trump cannot oust chair of federal employees' appeal board, US judge rules

US federal workers hit back at Trump mass firings with class action complaints

US ends collective bargaining for 50,000 TSA officers

Trump can continue mass firings despite disruption and chaos, US judge rules