Aug. 23, 2025
Trump v. Wilcox and the Supreme Court’s Retreat from Administrative Independence
On May 22, 2025, the 6-3 supermajority of the Supreme Court granted an emergency application for a stay, a procedural maneuver that effectively enabled President Donald Trump to dismiss National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) Member Gwynne Wilcox despite statutory protections against removal without cause. This immediate action left the NLRB without a quorum, thereby halting crucial federal labor law proceedings. The Court’s utilization of its emergency docket suggests that it views the unitary executive theory not merely as a preferred interpretation, but as an urgent constitutional imperative, justifying the circumvention of traditional deliberative processes and established norms of judicial review.
