Another judge rejects Trump's bid to fire a federal labor regulator
Source: Politico
03/12/2025 07:14 PM EDT
President Donald Trump suffered another legal loss Wednesday in his bid to fire leaders of the federal agencies that supervise labor disputes. U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ordered the reinstatement of Susan Grundmann to her post on the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which referees disputes between the federal government and federal employees’ unions.
Sooknanan ruled that Trump’s firing of Grundmann violated federal laws and Congress‘ power to establish the independent body.
“The government’s arguments … threaten to upend fundamental protections in our Constitution,” the Biden appointee wrote in a 35-page ruling. “But ours is not an autocracy; it is a system of checks and balances.”
Sooknanan is the latest district judge to block Trump’s efforts to override federal laws that limit the president’s ability to remove members of independent boards meant to constrain and monitor the executive branch. Judges have similarly rejected his attempt to remove a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board, which is charged with handling federal employee grievances, and a member of the National Labor Relations Board, which helps manage labor disputes in the private sector.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/12/susan-grundmann-labor-firing-00227769
Link to RULING (PDF) - https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2025cv0425-22
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