Three Corporation for Public Broadcasting members whom President Donald Trump fired in April have refused to leave their positions.
CPB board members Diane Kaplan, Laura Ross, and Thomas Rothman were terminated in April, yet all three have continued to show up to work. They refuse to vacate their positions, according to a complaint filed by the Department of Justice on Tuesday. Kaplan, Ross, and Rothman are the three Democrats on the CPB’s five-member board.
They received emails on April 28 from Trent Morse, White House deputy director of presidential personnel, informing them they were no longer employed, the Washington Post reported.
“On behalf of President Donald Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is terminated effective immediately,” Morse wrote in the email. “Thank you for your service.”
Kaplan, Ross, and Rothman maintained that their firings were illegal and abruptly filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration the next day.
“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not a government entity, and its board members are not government officers. Because CPB is not a federal agency subject to the President’s authority, but rather a private corporation, we have filed a lawsuit to block these firings,” said CPB spokesperson Tracey Briggs. “CPB’s Board Members are essential to the governance of CPB, which supports more than 1,500 independent, locally owned and operated public television and radio stations that provide universal access to free, high-quality content that educates, informs, and enlightens.”
The Trump administration claimed otherwise, insisting that the president had the power to do so. White House assistant press secretary Taylor Rogers claimed the Constitution grants Trump the authority to fire them from the CPB Board.
“As numerous courts have repeatedly affirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” Rogers said in a statement. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”
Board members for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, the Post reported. Each member serves a six-year term.
The Justice Department’s complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C., in response to Kaplan, Ross, and Rothman “refusing to vacate their offices after being removed by President Donald J. Trump.”
“The subjects of this complaint have continued to operate in office despite their removal and subsequent failure to obtain legal relief protecting their old positions,” read a release from the Department of Justice. “This litigation reflects the Department’s ongoing commitment to protecting the President’s core Article II powers, which include the authority to make personnel decisions regarding those occupying federal offices.”
The Justice Department requested that the court uphold Trump’s firings, claiming the three’s actions were “manifestly unlawful.”
“The complaint asks the court to declare that the former members have not lawfully served on the board since their removals, to enjoin the former members from serving on the board, and to order the former members to refund any compensation during their unlawful terms of service,” said the DOJ.
“The United States cannot just stand by when lawful orders—both executive and judicial — are so openly flouted,” the DOJ asserted in its complaint. “The writ of quo warranto, codified by statute in the District of Columbia, provides a remedy against Defendants’ usurpation.”
The DOJ insisted that the president has the power to fire the three board members and specifically cited the “Public Broadcasting Act” and “Article II of the Constitution” in its argument.
“The President lawfully exercised his authority under the Public Broadcasting Act and Article II of the Constitution to remove Defendants as board members of the CPB,” read the complaint. “The Public Broadcasting Act authorizes the President to appoint (with the advice and consent of the Senate) the CPB’s board members and contains no language restricting the President’s right to remove them.”
“The Public Broadcasting Act therefore empowers the President to remove the CPB’s board members.”