Federal Judge Reinstates Labor Board Member Fired By President Donald Trump

A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Donald Trump acted illegally when he fired a member of an independent labor agency, and the judge ordered that she be allowed to remain on the job.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., found Trump did not have the authority to remove Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board.

"An American president is not a king - not even an 'elected' one - and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute," Howell wrote.

She acknowledged the administration's argument that the Supreme Court may be inclined to overturn a 90-year-old decision restricting the president's power to remove members of independent agencies. But the judge said that until and unless the high court acts, current law clearly supports keeping Wilcox in her role.

The Trump administration quickly appealed her ruling,