The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Oct. 19 to review former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox’s challenge to her firing by President Donald Trump, leaving intact a lower court ruling that significantly expands presidential authority over the independent federal labor agency.
The justices’ refusal to hear the case effectively ends Wilcox’s legal battle to regain her position and reinforces a broader shift in the balance of power between the White House and independent regulatory agencies. The decision also raises important questions about the NLRB’s independence and the future direction of federal labor policy.
Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the NLRB, was appointed to a second five-year term by former President Joe Biden in 2023. Trump fired her in January 2025, shortly after returning to the White House, despite federal law permitting the removal of NLRB members only for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
Wilcox challenged her dismissal, arguing that Trump violated the National Labor Relations Act’s (NLRA) statutory protections against removal without cause.
In March 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sided with Wilcox, finding that the law's removal protections were constitutional. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed that decision in December 2025, ruling 2-1 that the president could remove NLRB members notwithstanding those protections.
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