WASHINGTON–Oral arguments in the lawsuit filed by fired NCUA board members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka are set to be heard on Nov. 21 by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
As the CU Daily has been reporting, President Trump fired the two Democratic members of the NCUA board in April, leaving Chairman Republican Kyle Hauptman as its lone member. As also reported, the two board members were temporarily returned to the board by the courts in time to participate in the July board meeting, but were then removed just days later in a separate ruling and are now awaiting the ruling by the appeals court.
At the core of the case is the Federal Credit Union Act and the president’s authority to fire members of the independent agency.
The Arguments
At the time, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump is the chief executive of the executive branch and reserves the right to fire anyone he wants.”
At the time, Harper said in a statement, “The decision of the White House to fire me before the completion of my term is wrong. It violates the bipartisan statutory framework adopted by Congress to protect credit union members and their deposits. The Trump Administration’s attack also undermines the independence, balance and important work of the NCUA. If a President can fire an NCUA Board member at any time, how will we maintain public trust in our nation’s financial services regulatory system?”
Dates for Filing Briefs Approaches
As the CU Daily reported here, the Department of Justice, which is representing the Trump administration and NCUA in the lawsuit, most recently filed a court brief arguing there is no statutory language restricting the president’s at-will removal power.
Harper and Otsuka’s reply brief is due Oct. 3, and the government’s subsequent reply is due Oct. 17
News of the Nov. 21 date for oral arguments in the case was first reported by America’s Credit Unions.
