
Removal Lawsuit Tracker
Monitoring ongoing federal litigation challenging the Trump Administration's attempts to remove members of independent boards, commissions, and other entities
📊 2025 Removal Litigation Overview
9 Active Cases challenging unprecedented removals across federal agencies and independent institutions
Active Litigation
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████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ HARRIS V. BESSENT ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ -->
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<div style="font-weight: 600; color: #92400e; font-size: 1rem;">Harris v. Bessent <span style="font-size: 0.8rem; color: #6b5b47;">▼</span></div>
<div style="font-size: 0.85rem; color: #6b5b47; font-style: italic; margin-top: 0.2rem;">Merit Systems Protection Board</div>
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<td style="padding: 1rem; border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(180, 83, 9, 0.2); vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.85rem; color: #6b5b47;">Feb 2025</td>
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<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/?q=24A966" style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="display: inline-block; padding: 0.25rem 0.6rem; border-radius: 4px; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 600; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px; background: #dc2626; color: white; cursor: pointer;">Supreme Court</span>
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<div style="margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.3rem; font-size: 0.75rem;">Stay granted (May 22)</div>
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<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69658769/cathy-harris-v-scott-bessent/" style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="display: inline-block; padding: 0.25rem 0.6rem; border-radius: 4px; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 600; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px; background: #22c55e; color: white; cursor: pointer;">D.C. Circuit</span>
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<div style="margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.3rem; font-size: 0.75rem;">Merits pending (argued May 16)</div>
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<a href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69631849/harris-v-bessent/" style="text-decoration: none;">
<span style="display: inline-block; padding: 0.25rem 0.6rem; border-radius: 4px; font-size: 0.75rem; font-weight: 600; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px; background: #dc2626; color: white; cursor: pointer;">D.C. District Court</span>
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<div style="margin-left: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.3rem; font-size: 0.75rem;">Summary judgment & preliminary injunction granted</div>
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<td style="padding: 1rem; border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(180, 83, 9, 0.2); vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.85rem; color: #374151;">Whether the President can remove MSPB members without cause despite statutory "for cause" protections</td>
<td style="padding: 1rem; border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(180, 83, 9, 0.2); vertical-align: top; font-size: 0.85rem; color: #374151; font-weight: 500;">Supreme Court granted stay, signaling likely reversal of <em>Humphrey's Executor</em> protections</td>
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<strong>Case Summary:</strong> Board Member Harris filed suit on February 22, 2025, after being removed by President Trump without cause. Under federal law, MSPB members can only be fired "for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office." The D.C. district court issued a preliminary injunction (PI) reinstating Harris and finding for Harris on summary judgment on the merits. The government appealed the PI and the order granting summary judgment to the D.C. Circuit. On appeal, this case has been combined with <em>Wilcox v. Trump</em>. A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit reversed the district court on the stay matter on March 28, 2025. Harris and Wilcox appealed the issuance of a stay to the full D.C. Circuit, which reversed the panel on April 7. The government then appealed the denial of a stay to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court granted the stay on May 22, 2025, finding that the government was likely to prevail on the merits.
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Last Updated: June 7, 2025 | Report Updates or Corrections
This tracker focuses on cases with significant constitutional implications for executive power and government oversight.