WASHINGTON–Oral arguments in the case involving two fired members of the NCUA board that had been scheduled for Nov. 3 have been suspended.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the suspension of arguments in the case filed by former NCUA board members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka pending the U.S. Supreme Court review of the case of Trump v. Slaughter, which involves a Federal Trade Commission commissioner, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter, who, like Harper and Otsuka, was fired by President Donald Trump.
Both cases have similarities in that each involves the question of whether a federal court may prevent a person’s removal from public office. The former NCUA board members, who were fired by President Trump in April before being briefly reinstated by the courts and then removed again by a higher court, argue their firings violate the Federal Credit Union Act.
Arguments Had Been Set for November
News of the delayed oral arguments in the case involving Harper and Otsuka, which been scheduled for Nov. 3., was first reported by America’s Credit Unions.
The U.S. Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments in Slaughter during the December argument session, with a decision likely by June 2026, according to the trade group.
As the CU Daily reported earlier, the government filed its latest brief on Sept. 12, with Harper and Otsuka’s reply due Oct. 3, and the government’s reply to them due Oct. 17.
Similar Precedent Cited
As the CU Daily reported here, the Supreme Court issued an emergency order that allowed the president to fire Slaughter—for now. After Slaughter and another FTC commissioner were fired, they challenged the removal by pointing to the same case that has been cited by the former NCUA board members—the 1935 Supreme Court case, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States, which also involved the firing of an FTC commissioner.
