President Donald Trump has fired a host of Democratic appointees at independent boards and commissions across the government. There’s just one catch: Some of them are still working.
More than a dozen leaders of independent federal agencies received terse emails from the White House purporting to fire or demote them shortly after Trump’s inauguration, despite the fact that their roles are governed by laws that bar termination without cause. Many of them decried Trump’s summary termination notices as illegal and made various attempts to remain in their posts, including suing.
Their efforts have proven largely futile against the administration’s brute force strategy: The overwhelming majority have in fact left, accepted new jobs, dropped their lawsuits, or been otherwise forced out — quite literally locked out of their former agency offices in some cases. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has signaled that it will continue to expand the president’s power to fire board members who run regulatory agencies.
Successful Resistance Amidst the Chaos
Yet a handful of officials have successfully resisted, either because they were reinstated — at least temporarily — by lower-court judges, or because they have simply managed to maneuver around the White House’s orders and directives.
Those officials’ resistance could end up shaping how courts view crucial, pending questions about the hiring-and-firing powers of the presidency, and whether Congress can create federal agencies with some degree of independence from the chief executive.
Defiance in the Face of Termination
Trump fired three members of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees PBS and NPR, in April. But those members participated in two CPB board of directors meetings this month. Diane Kaplan, Tom Rothman and Laura Gore Ross made motions and voted on issues before the board on June 10 and 11. Former President Joe Biden appointed Rothman and Kaplan to the CPB. Trump appointed Ross during his first term, and Biden reappointed her in 2021.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said Trump “exercised his lawful authority” to remove the members because the CPB “is creating media to support a particular political party on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Similarly, Rochelle Garza, the Biden-appointed chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights whom Trump purportedly demoted in March, has maintained her role without interruption. The civil rights board investigates discrimination and guides the development of civil rights laws. Garza presided over multiple commission business meetings since March, including a meeting last Friday, where she voted on several motions.
The CPB members and Garza have hung on to their roles by simply resisting the White House’s directives — and with the support of some colleagues.
Legal Battles and Resilience
Other officials have scored temporary wins in ongoing court battles.
Three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission who were fired in May are back in their roles after a federal judge reinstated them, said Nicolas Sansone, a staff attorney at the advocacy group Public Citizen, which represents the officials. Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr. have conducted substantive business at the agency since they were reinstated on June 13, including convening meetings and voting on matters.
The same goes for two Democrats on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board whom Trump claimed to fire in January. Ed Felten and Travis LeBlanc have remained in their roles by virtue of a federal court ruling in May.
The White House didn’t respond to follow-up questions about the broader group of commissioners and board members who remain in their roles despite a purported firing or demotion.
Legal Limbo and the Fight for Independence
Don Kettl, former dean of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, said fundamental questions about the president’s authority over independent regulatory bodies remain unresolved, even as some courts have recognized that the president has wide removal powers over the executive branch more broadly.
Trump administration officials have urged the Supreme Court to overturn a 1935 precedent that upheld Congress’ power to limit the president from firing leaders of some executive branch agencies. And the justices indicated in a preliminary order in May that they will likely curtail that precedent. For now, though, the issue remains in flux.
“I think some commissioners, as a matter of principle, are hanging on by their fingernails waiting for courts to decide, but also as a way of creating a series of legal challenges that forces them to frame the questions” differently, Kettl said.
“It’s a shadow-boxing match at this point,” Kettl added. “All sides are feeling each other out and trying to find a way to frame the ultimate legal questions in a way that’s more likely to produce the results they want.”
Standing Firm Against Executive Pressure
The officials who have maintained their jobs are exceptions in Trump’s firing spree.
The president fired more than a dozen inspectors general at major federal agencies during the first week of his second term, bulldozing through legal requirements to provide 30-days notice to Congress and explain the terminations. And the White House has terminated or demoted numerous political appointees — almost all Democrats — across the government since then, often bypassing term limits and other job protections.
Indeed, the administration has been remarkably successful in its broad campaign to consolidate Trump’s power over the executive branch.
Ellen Weintraub, a former Federal Election Commission member Trump attempted to fire in February, said at the time she would remain in her role, calling the move illegal. By May, Weintraub said she was officially leaving. This month, she announced that she was taking on a new role at a campaign finance reform group.
Perhaps the most illustrative case involves former Federal Trade Commissioners Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter.
Slaughter and Bedoya sued the president after receiving termination notices in March. They also fought to continue exercising their authority as commissioners — but they struggled against the practical powers of the White House.
The administration revoked their access to agency offices, emails and resources. And officials reassigned or placed much of their staff on leave.
Bedoya and Slaughter continued trying to decide cases and weigh in on matters — but they were limited to doing so via social media and the FTC’s public comments portal. They also made public appearances as commissioners, but the agency has indicated that their “time in office” ended in March.
Earlier this month, Bedoya told the judge he was formally resigning, adding that he has a family to support, and that the government has stopped paying his salary.
“As a result of these actions, I have been unable to fulfill my duties … with over a year remaining in my term of service,” Bedoya said.
For the time being, the handful of targeted appointees whose resistance has been more successful remain defiant.
“Our bylaws prohibit any person, including the President of the United States, from removing a director without a two-thirds vote of the other directors,” CPB chair Ruby Calvert said in the latest board meeting this month. “We will continue our mission, because the importance of a vibrant, independent public media system … is needed more now than ever.”
Ultimately, the White House appears poised to win the fight — judging by the experiences of the broader group of appointees Trump has already removed, and the early signs from the Supreme Court. Still, the resistance by the handful of “fired” appointees who remain in their seats could end up shaping the courts’ views on the issue.
