The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, October 19, declined to hear a bid by former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox to challenge the legality of her firing by President Donald Trump, Reuters reported. The justices turned away Wilcox's appeal of a lower court's ruling that said the Republican president's January 2025 firing of her was a valid exercise of executive authority, leaving that ruling in place. Bloomberg Tax reported the case as Wilcox v. Trump, No. 26-5.

The court's action follows its June decision backing Trump's firing of Rebecca Slaughter, a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission. That ruling overturned the court's 1935 precedent in Humphrey's Executor, which had recognised Congress's authority to protect leaders of certain regulatory agencies from presidential removal at will, Reuters reported. In her petition, Wilcox argued that the NLRB and the FTC are different in key ways and that if parts of board members' authorities raised separation-of-powers problems, the court should sever them rather than invalidate their removal protections, according to Bloomberg Tax. The Trump administration said in its brief that the Slaughter decision made clear Wilcox's arguments have no merit.

Wilcox, the first Black woman to serve on the NLRB's board, was appointed by former President Joe Biden and confirmed for a second five-year term in 2023 that was scheduled to run through August 2028. Trump moved to fire her about a week into his second presidential term. A U.S. district judge ruled in her favour in March 2025, finding that the federal law protecting board members from removal without cause remained enforceable, but the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reversed that ruling in a 2-1 decision in December 2025.

"I'm disappointed that the Supreme Court has declined to hear this case, not only for myself, but also for the workers and employers who rely on the National Labor Relations Board to resolve labor disputes impartially and free from political pressure," Wilcox said in a statement carried by Reuters. She added that she would remain committed to "protecting the principles that allow the board to serve the public fairly." The Justice Department declined to comment, Reuters reported. Sources: Reuters (via WNCY and SRN News); Bloomberg Tax.