A federal judge ordered a fired Merit Systems Protection Board member reinstated Tuesday, teeing up a Supreme Court fight over the existence of independent agencies. Judge Rudolph Contreras, an Obama appointee, ordered President Trump to temporarily reinstate a Biden appointee to the Merit Systems Protection Board, an independent agency that adjudicates employment disputes involving civil service employees. “The Court concludes that Harris has established a strong likelihood of success on the merits, that irreparable harm is likely to occur in the absence of injunctive relief and that the public interest weighs in favor of enjoining Defendants’ actions,” opined Contreras. “Harris has thus carried her burden to establish that a temporary restraining order is warranted here.”
MSPB judges can be fired “only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or…
