On February 18, 2025, a federal court enjoined the Trump Administration from removing client Cathy Harris from her role as a member of the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) and ordered that she be reinstated immediately. The MSPB is an independent federal agency that resolves personnel actions taken against federal employees. In 2022, Ms. Harris was sworn in to a seven-year term set to expire on March 1, 2028. On February 10, 2025, President Trump in a one-sentence email, purported to terminate Ms. Harris from her role, even though the relevant statute allows the President to remove her “only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
Correia & Puth and Kator, Parks, Weiser & Wright, PLLC filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ms. Harris. Linda M. Correia argued before Judge Rudolph Contreras of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that Ms. Harris’s firing was unlawful and that the court should immediately reinstate her to her job. By written decision on February 18, 2025, the court agreed, enjoining the Trump Administration from treating Ms. Harris as being removed, from denying her access to her office, and from replacing her in any way. The court’s decision follows a line of other cases holding the Trump Administration’s actions to account under laws that protect the integrity and independence of certain federal agencies.
