(WASHINGTON) — Just as the Senate began debate on the rescissions package that would strip the Corporation for Public Broadcasting of two years’ worth of its funding, the Trump administration filed a new lawsuit against the three CPB board members whom the president has attempted to fire but have refused to leave.
Tuesday’s filing, in US District Court in Washington, is the latest volley in a monthslong legal fight between the administration and the entity that funds the nation’s public radio and television stations. It seeks to affirm President Donald Trump’s power to remove members of the CPB board — a power the corporation and its board members insist he doesn’t have.
“As recent Supreme Court orders have recognized, the President cannot meaningfully exercise his executive power under Article II of the Constitution without the power to select — and, when necessary, remove — those who hold federal office,” the administration’s filing says. “Personnel is policy, after all.”
CPB and its board members argue that while the president has the power to appoint the organization’s board members, there is no provision in the law that allows Trump to fire them.
Last month, a district court judge declined to grant a preliminary injunction on behalf of the three CPB board members whom the White House sought to fire in April, saying they had not proved the need for early judicial intervention in the case. But Judge Randolph Moss also noted that the board had the ability to change its own bylaws, which it did in May, to only permit the ouster of sitting board members — “by any person or authority, including the President of the United States,” with the concurrence of two-thirds of the board.
The new case has also been assigned to Judge Moss — the same judge who has been overseeing the CBP board members’ lawsuit.
Tuesday’s suit by the government seeks a judge’s order declaring that the three CPB board members in question — Laura Ross, Diane Kaplan and Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman — “do not lawfully serve” as members. Former President Joe Biden appointed the board members.
The administration is also asking the court to void any actions taken by the three board members, and to order the refund of any salary they might have been paid since the White House directed their dismissals in late April.
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