Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul and a coalition of 18 attorneys general filed an amicus brief in support of Cathy A. Harris, a member of the federal Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) whom President Donald Trump unlawfully attempted to remove from office.
Federal law provides that an MSPB member may only be removed from office for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. In violation of that law, President Trump purported to remove Harris from office without cause on Feb. 10. Harris sued, and a federal district judge ruled that the attempted removal was unlawful and that Harris remains a member of the MSPB. That ruling is now on appeal. The coalition’s amicus brief urges the court to affirm the district court’s decision.
“States like Illinois rely upon the MSPB and its political independence to protect federal workers from political retaliation and other politically-motivated actions,” Raoul said. “This unlawful termination undermines the entire merit system upon which the government’s civil service is based. I will continue to stand with my fellow attorneys general to defend against the administration’s continued attacks on federal civil servants.”
The MSPB is a congressionally-created independent agency with legal protections against political interference. The board consists of three members and is charged with protecting merit-system principles and adjudicating conflicts between federal workers and their employing agencies.
Raoul and the coalition’s amicus brief, which was filed in the case Harris v. Bessent, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, emphasized one of the key aspects of the merit principles protecting civil servants, which MSPB enforces: the protection of federal employees against “arbitrary action, personal favoritism, or coercion for political purposes.”
In the brief, Raoul and the attorneys general explained that this principle is why it is necessary for the MSPB to have a degree of political independence and why the members of the MSPB are granted protections against removal without cause. Additionally, Illinois and all other states rely upon the ability of independent agencies like the MSPB to fairly and impartially carry out congressionally mandated functions.
Joining Attorney General Raoul in filing the brief are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont and Washington
