Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Trump’s dismissal of NLRB member

President Donald Trump removed Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board shortly after taking office in 2025, prompting her to challenge the dismissal as exceeding executive authority. Wilcox, who made history as the first Black woman on the board and as its chair, asked the Supreme Court to examine her case, asserting that the NLRB operates as an independent adjudicative body. The Court, however, declined to hear the appeal, noting that its earlier ruling in Trump v. Slaughter— which affirmed the president’s power to fire FTC commissioners—already settled the legal question.

The decision left the D.C. Circuit’s earlier order reinstating Wilcox in place, but the high court blocked that reinstatement at the request of the Trump administration. Wilcox warned that leaving the board’s status uncertain could undermine thousands of labor disputes decided each year. The case highlights ongoing tensions over the balance between presidential control and agency independence.