John,
In just 75 days as president, Donald Trump has fired an astonishing number of political appointees across the government.
The problem? Many of the firings are illegal, and some directly contradict Supreme Court precedent.
By our count, President Trump has fired 34 top officials, including watchdogs, ethics officials and members of commissions that protect civil and labor rights and enforce campaign finance laws.
That means Trump has removed a top official almost every other day since taking office, which represents an unprecedented attack on independent agencies and government accountability.
John, we’re holding the line against Trump and his administration’s efforts to gut the civil service and undermine accountability by tracking these actions and taking them to court. Can you support this work with a donation today?
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Trump’s likely illegal firings of top officials include:
- 17 inspectors general from the EPA, USAID, Departments of State, Education, Labor, Veterans’ Affairs, the Interior, Transportation and many more
- The FEC chair
- Two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission members and the general counsel
- A board member of the National Labor Relations Board
- The chair of the Federal Labor Relations Authority
- Two Federal Trade Commission members
The FTC commissioners’ firings were particularly blatant, because there is unanimous Supreme Court precedent from 1935 in Humphrey’s Executor v. U.S. that says presidents cannot remove members of the FTC on policy grounds.
The Trump administration has not been shy about hiding its desire to overturn that precedent, saying in a letter to Senator Durbin that the DOJ “intends to urge the Supreme Court to overrule [the Humphrey’s Executor] decision, which prevents the President from adequately supervising principal officers in the Executive Branch.”
John, let’s be clear: a decision to overturn Humphrey’s Executor would end independent agencies as we know them, legitimize Trump’s illegal firing spree and give presidents the freedom to install allies to positions that are specifically designed to be apolitical.
At CREW, we’re committed to tracking Trump’s firings of top officials and doing all we can to protect the merit-based civil service. Check out our tracker of every firing, its legality and the status of litigation, and learn more about our ongoing litigation to protect a broader swath of civil servants.
We couldn’t do this work without your support. Thank you for helping us continue the fight!
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your tax deductible donation will go through immediately to ActBlue Charities Inc. and be disbursed to CREW within 30 days:
Thank you,
Noah Bookbinder
President
CREW
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