Latest news with #NationalLaborRelationsBoard
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Federal Reserve issues rare statement asserting independence amid Trump pressure
The Federal Reserve issued a rare, strongly worded statement on Thursday after chair Jerome Powell spoke with Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday morning, holding firm on the central bank's independence amid pressure from Trump to lower interest rates. The three-paragraph statement emphasized the Fed's independent, non-partisan role in setting monetary policy based on economic data. 'Chair Powell did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming economic information and what that means for the outlook,' the statement read. Powell told Trump that he and other Fed officials 'will set monetary policy, as required by law, to support maximum employment and stable prices and will make those decisions based solely on careful, objective, and non-political analysis', according to the statement. That the Fed, which tends to be extremely reserved with public statements, issued the brief memo shows that officials are aware of Trump's pressure campaign and are standing firm on the Fed's independence. At Thursday's White House press briefing, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the Fed's statement is 'correct' but that Trump 'did say that the Fed chair is making a mistake by not lowering rates'. Related: 'Fiscally irresponsible': Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' benefits the rich at the expense of the poor Historically, presidents show deference to the Fed, respecting the central bank's independence. But over the last few months, Trump has tried to publicly pressure Powell to lower interest rates, as the Fed did last year, though officials say that the economy – thrown into a tailspin from Trump's trade war – has become too unstable to continue lowering rates. After Trump's 'liberation day' in early April, when he announced a slate of tariffs that ended up crashing US stock markets, Trump wrote on social media: 'This would be a PERFECT time for Fed Chairman Jerome Powell to cut Interest Rates. He is always 'late,' but he could now change his image, and quickly.' Powell, who was appointed during Trump's first term in 2018, has resisted the pressure from Trump and has warned that high tariffs could lead to inflation and, earlier in May, said that officials are 'in no hurry' to cut interest rates – all statements that seem to have put Trump on edge. ''Too Late' Jerome Powell is a FOOL, who doesn't have a clue,' Trump wrote after the Fed's meeting. Trump had previously threatened to fire Powell, though it's unclear whether the president has the power to do so. Last week, the supreme court allowed Trump to follow through on his dismissal of officials on the National Labor Relations Board, the panel that oversees labor disputes, but judges noted that the Federal Reserve is a 'uniquely structured, quasi-private entity' – implying that it likely won't be so easy for Trump to get rid of Powell.
Boston Globe
6 days ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Trump fires Democratic commissioner of independent agency that oversees nuclear safety
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told reporters that 'all organizations are more effective when leaders are rowing in the same direction' and that the Republican president reserves the right to remove employees within the executive branch who exert his executive authority. Advertisement Trump fired two of the three Democratic commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent federal agency responsible for enforcing federal laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace. In a similar move, two National Labor Relations Board members were fired. Willie Phillips, a Democratic member and former chairman of the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, stepped down in April, telling reporters that the White House asked him to do so. Advertisement Trump also signed an executive order to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the the House Energy and Commerce Committee, called Hanson's firing illegal and another attempt by Trump to undermine independent agencies and consolidate power in the White House. 'Congress explicitly created the NRC as an independent agency, insulated from the whims of any president, knowing that was the only way to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the American people,' Pallone said in a statement. Senate Democrats also said Trump overstepped his authority. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement that 'Trump's lawlessness' threatens the commission's ability to ensure that nuclear power plants and nuclear materials are safe and free from political interference. Hanson was nominated to the commission by Trump in 2020. He was appointed chair by President Joe Biden in January 2021 and served in that role until Trump's inauguration to a second term as president. Trump selected David Wright, a Republican member of the commission, to serve as chair. Hanson continued to serve on the NRC as a commissioner. His term was due to end in 2029. Wright's term expires on June 30. The White House has not said if he will be reappointed. Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called Hanson a dedicated public servant and a strong supporter of the NRC's public health and safety mission. Firing Hanson is Trump's 'latest outrageous move to undermine the independence and integrity' of the agency that protects the U.S. homeland from nuclear power plant disasters, Lyman said in a statement. Advertisement The NRC confirmed Hanson's service ended on Friday, bringing the panel to two Democrats and two Republicans. The commission has functioned in the past with fewer than the required five commissioners and will continue to do so, the statement said.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court ignores precedent instead of overruling it in allowing president to fire officials whom Congress tried to make independent
What may be one of the U.S. Supreme Court's most important and far-reaching rulings in decades dropped in late May 2025 in an order that probably didn't get a second – or even first – glance from most Americans. But this not-quite-two-page ruling, as technical and procedural as they come, potentially rewrites a major principle of constitutional law and may restructure the operation of the federal government. The case is dry in a way only lawyers could love, but its implications are enormous. The dispute began when President Donald Trump fired two Biden-era officials: Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board. The National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, like the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Reserve, are among more than 50 independent agencies established by Congress to help the president carry out the law. Though technically located within the executive branch, independent agencies are designed to serve the public at large rather than the president. To ensure these agencies are devoted to their public mission, not the will or whims of a president, congressional statutes generally permit the president to remove leaders of these agencies only for 'good cause.' Malfeasance in office, neglect of duty, or inefficiency generally constitute 'good cause.' Other executive branch agencies, such as the FBI, Food and Drug Administration and Department of Homeland Security are entirely under presidential command – if he wants their leaders out, out they go. But independent agencies, in existence since the late 19th century, are to carry out congressional policy free from the president's purview and his political pressure. Because independent agencies are creatures of Congress housed within the executive branch, there is long-standing disagreement among scholars about just how much power the president should have over them. In the two firings, there was agreement that Trump had violated the relevant statute by firing Wilcox and Harris without 'good cause.' He justified Wilcox's removal, in part, because she did not share his policy preferences. For Harris, he gave no reason at all. But the bigger issue was whether the law itself was constitutional: Could Congress limit why or how a president can remove employees of the executive branch? The root of the problem lies within the Constitution. Although Article 2 specifically gives the president the power to 'appoint' certain federal officials, it says nothing about the power to fire -– or 'remove' – them. Conservative legal scholars propose, under what's called the 'unitary executive theory,' that because the president 'is' the executive branch, he has complete authority, including removal, over all who serve within it. Only with the unfettered ability to fire anyone who serves under him can the president fulfill his constitutionally mandated duty to ensure that 'the Laws be faithfully executed.' Opponents have countered that this ignores fundamental aspects of our constitutional framework: the framers' devotion to checks and balances, their aversion toward monarchical, kinglike rule, and their determination to put policymaking in the hands of Congress. These questions are not new. The Supreme Court first took up the issue in 1926 in Myers v. United States, when Chief Justice – and former president – William Howard Taft held that Congress could not limit the president's ability to fire an Oregon postmaster, writing that 'the power to remove inferior executive officers … is an incident of the power to appoint them.' Less than a decade later, however, the court ruled in Humphrey's Executor v. United States that the Constitution did not grant the president an 'illimitable power of removal,' at least over certain types of officials. This included the head of the Federal Trade Commission, whose firing by President Franklin Roosevelt had sparked the case. Humphrey's Executor stood basically untouched for decades, until Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito – both of whom had previously served in the executive branch – were appointed. With a now-solid conservative majority, the Supreme Court invalidated restrictions on the president's ability to remove members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board in 2009. Two years after the arrival of fellow executive branch alumnus Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, the court struck down the 'good cause' removal restriction for the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Rather than explicitly overrule Humphrey's Executor, however, the justices declared that these agencies were factually distinct from the Federal Trade Commission – leaders of one were protected by a 'two-layer' removal system and the other because it was run by a single individual, not a multimember board. Because Humphrey's Executor was still good law, and the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board were structured like the Federal Trade Commission, district courts in 2025 initially held that the firings of Wilcox and Harris were unlawful. On April 9, 2025, Trump filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court, asking it to put the district court decisions on hold. On May 22, the Supreme Court granted that request, at least while the cases proceed through the lower courts. The court did not decide on the constitutionality of the removal statute, but the ruling is nonetheless a major victory for Trump. He can now fire not only Wilcox and Harris but also potentially the heads of any independent agency. Low-level civil servants may also be at risk. In the unsigned order, the high court echoed unitary executive theory, stating, 'Because the Constitution vests the executive power in the Presidents … he may remove without cause executive officers who exercise that power on his behalf, subject to narrow exceptions.' It simply ignored Humphrey's Executor altogether, leaving its value as precedent unclear. The Supreme Court also said that the holding did not apply to the Federal Reserve Board. That 'uniquely structured, quasi-private entity' would remain free from executive control via removal. Such an explicit carve-out in legal doctrine is striking but responds directly to claims made by litigants and political commentators of the dire economic consequences that could result were the president to have free rein over the Federal Reserve's chairman. In dissent, Justice Elena Kagan blasted the majority for allowing the president to overrule Humphrey's Executor 'by fiat,' a result made even worse because the court had done so via the so-called shadow docket, in the absence of full briefing or oral argument. Such 'short-circuiting' of the 'usual deliberative process' is, she wrote, a wholly inappropriate way to make a 'massive change in the law.' What happens now? The National Labor Relations Board is paralyzed, and the Merit Systems Protection Board is somewhat hamstrung, with both lacking the quorum necessary to act. Cases about the firing of Harris, Wilcox and multiple other officials will bedevil lower courts as they try to figure out whether Humphrey's Executor still stands, even as a shadow of its former self. Trump aims to continue axing federal employees, even as the administration struggles to rehire others. And, already asked again to make major legal change on its emergency docket, the Supreme Court will need to determine whether such change warrants more than the few paragraphs of explanation it gave in the ruling on the Wilcox and Harris firings. If, as seems likely, the court ultimately overturns Humphrey's Executor, Kagan's dissent serves as a warning voiced by others as well: A decision that allows the president to have total control over the heads of more than 50 independent agencies – agencies that pursue the public interest in areas from financial regulation to the environment, to nuclear safety – could shift their focus from serving the public to pleasing the president, profoundly affecting the lives of many Americans. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Claire B. Wofford, College of Charleston Read more: Trump's claims of vast presidential powers run up against Article 2 of the Constitution and exceed previous presidents' power grabs Federal threats against local officials who don't cooperate with immigration orders could be unconstitutional − Justice Antonin Scalia ruled against similar plans George Washington, a real estate investor and successful entrepreneur, knew the difference between running a business and running the government In 2022, I donated $20 to ActBlue.
Bloomberg
12-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Amazon's Return-to-Office Mandate Sparks Disability Complaints
Inc. 's hard-line stance on getting disabled employees to return to the office has sparked a backlash, with workers alleging the company is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as their rights to collectively bargain. At least two employees have filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the National Labor Relations Board, federal agencies that regulate working conditions. One of the workers said they provided the EEOC with a list of 18 'similarly situated' employees to emphasize that their experience isn't isolated and to help federal regulators with a possible investigation.
Bloomberg
02-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Grindr's Abrupt Return to Office Was 'Union Busting,' NLRB Lawyer Tells Judge
Grindr Inc. changed its remote-work policy 'out of the blue,' demanding employees return to the office in retaliation for a union drive after previously telling them they could keep teleworking, US labor board prosecutors told an agency judge. 'Grindr told its employees many, many times in spring and summer 2023, that the remote work benefits were secure,' Joseph Meeker, an attorney for the US National Labor Relations Board, said at a May 13 hearing, according to a transcript obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. 'Then employees announced they were unionizing, and only two weeks later, Grindr changed its mind.'
