Attorney General Charity Clark joined a coalition of 23 attorneys general in filing an amicus brief in continued opposition to President Donald Trump’s unlawful attempt to remove Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Dismissing Wilcox would leave just two members remaining on the five-member board, which cannot act without a quorum of at least three members.
Wilcox filed the case, Wilcox v. Trump, to challenge President Trump’s January 27, 2025, attempt to dismiss her from the NLRB in the middle of her five-year term, in violation of a federal statute that allows the president to remove board members from office only for specific reasons, such as misconduct. A federal district judge ruled that Trump’s attempt to fire Wilcox was unlawful and that she remains a member of the board. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling. In their brief, the coalition urge the court to affirm the district court’s decision and hold that Wilcox remains a member of the board and that other executive officials must treat her as such. The coalition argues that the attempt to dismiss Wilcox would undermine protections for workers and destabilize federal labor law. Trump’s attempt to fire Wilcox, if allowed to stand, would deprive the NLRB of the quorum that it needs under law to do the work that Congress has charged it to do.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for administering the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which guarantees American workers the right to unionize, bargain for better wages and working conditions, and engage in activities like strikes and pickets. Under the law, the NLRB adjudicates labor disputes and certifies the results of union elections. The board is also responsible for administering the NLRA uniformly across the country.
In the brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, Attorney General Clark and the coalition describe the serious harms that this removal would cause. Labor unions create significant benefits for workers and the broader economy. The attorneys general note in their filing that union employees earn higher wages and receive better benefits than non-union workers. They also point out that labor unions benefit non-union employees, as an increase in private-sector union membership often coincides with an increase in wages for non-union workers. These unions rely on the NLRA’s protections, which the NLRB has primary responsibility for administering. Those protections also benefit employers by protecting their operations against disruptions caused by labor strife. Federal law sometimes preempts states from enacting their own safeguards. By depriving the NLRB of the quorum it needs to act on labor disputes, Wilcox’s dismissal would risk leaving workers unprotected.
In addition, the attorneys general argue that allowing the president to remove NLRB members at will would undercut the agency’s role as a nonpartisan, expert panel that develops a stable, predictable body of labor law based on its members’ technical expertise. They also point out that the statute that prevents the president from removing NLRB members without cause is constitutional under binding, longstanding U.S. Supreme Court precedent, and that federal courts have the power to require federal officers to follow the law by continuing to treat Wilcox as a member of the board.
Joining Attorneys General Clark in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin.
Original source can be found here.