Republican President Donald Trump—and the White House X account—may have declared him king, but the Trump administration is finding out his powers aren't quite as absolute as he thinks.
On January 27, 2025, the newly inaugurated President fired National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member Gwynne Wilcox, a Democrat who had served as chair of the NLRB since December 2024. Wilcox was confirmed by the Senate in September 2023 to serve until August 2028.
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935—the law that established the agency—specifies NLRB members must be appointed for five-year terms. Members "may be removed by the President, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause."
By eliminating Wilcox, Trump would deprive the NLRB of the quorum required to do business until successor members were confirmed, effectively eliminating the agency until such time as he appointed new members and the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed them.
The United States largest labor union, the AFL-CIO stated:
"A week after taking office, President Trump effectively shut down the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and jeopardized the NLRB’s independence by illegally firing Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the Board."
No NLRB member had ever been terminated by a President since the Board was established. And it looks like that 90-year streak will remain intact.
On Wednesday, a federal court ruled Trump's firing of Wilcox was a violation of federal law under the terms established by the NLRB Act.
The 36-page ruling by U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell stated:
"An American President is not a king—not even an ‘elected’ one, and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants… is not absolute, but may be constrained in appropriate circumstances."
When Wilcox returned to work this Monday morning, she was greeted by the applause and cheers of her coworkers.
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Wilcox's coworkers weren't the only ones happy to see some of Trump’s illegal activities stopped by a federal judge.
Judge Howell wrote in her ruling reinstating Wilcox:
"[The framers of the US Constitution] made clear that no one in our system of government was meant to be king—the President included—and not just in name only."
"The President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire plaintiff from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law."
Referencing Trump and his administration's social media posts, Judge Howell added:
"A President who touts an image of himself as a ‘king’ or a ‘dictator,’ perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the US Constitution."
"In our constitutional order, the President is tasked to be a conscientious custodian of the law, albeit an energetic one, to take care of effectuating his enumerated duties, including the laws enacted by the Congress and as interpreted by the Judiciary."
The Trump administration claimed the firing was justified because Wilcox was a far-left appointee with "radical records of upending longstanding labor law" and declared she had "no place" as a senior appointee "in the Trump administration."
But the NLRB isn't part of any presidential administration.
The NLRB is an independent federal agency tasked with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, which guarantees the right of most private sector employees "to organize, to engage in group efforts to improve their wages and working conditions, to determine whether to have unions as their bargaining representative, to engage in collective bargaining, and to refrain from any of these activities. [NLRB] acts to prevent and remedy unfair labor practices committed by private sector employers and unions."
After the court ruling on Wednesday, Wilcox stated:
"I’m ready to get back to work. It’s not just about me, but I’m glad to be the face of this fight."
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