WASHINGTON — In a court case that could very well define the limits of Donald Trump’s presidential power, a federal judge Thursday reinstated a member of a federal labor agency, warning of the damage to the country if Trump continues to rule as if he were a king.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell reinstated Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board after Trump removed her without providing any cause, issuing an opinion that suggests the case could be a broader test of the “unitary executive theory.”
“An American President is not a king — not even an ‘elected’ one — and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute,” Howell wrote.
Wilcox brought her case last month to challenge her late-night firing from the National Labor Relations Board and she seemingly acknowledged that her lawsuit — following a “string of openly illegal firings” — might become a “test case” for the limits of presidential power. Howell’s 36-page ruling seemingly took the cue, offering a broad criticism that Trump’s interpretation of his scope of power flatly violates the Constitution and risks lasting damage to the country.
“The President’s interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power — or, more aptly, his aspiration — is flat wrong,” Howell wrote.