White House Push Sways Merit Systems Board, Threatening Civil-Service Protections
Reporting says a private campaign and an executive order could let the president remove thousands of policy officials with little process and reshape federal personnel control.
Overview
- Recent reporting published Sunday revealed a private White House campaign led by adviser James Sherk that pressured the Merit Systems Protection Board to adopt the administration's legal theory.
- In March the Merit Systems Protection Board embraced an Article II argument that the president can fire officials without traditional due process, a break with decades of board precedent.
- In June the president signed an executive order that strips job protections from about 8,000 policy-making employees, a step the reporting says Sherk helped design and promote.
- The full Federal Circuit has agreed to rehear the case, an unusual move that elevates the legal stakes over whether the board ruling and the order can stand.
- Legal scholars and advocacy groups warn the moves could politicize career staff, weaken due process for prosecutors and judges who handle immigration and enforcement, and make firings a tool for political control.