The E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
The Trump administration is pushing back against arguments that a recent court ruling reinstating three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has any bearing on the lawsuit filed by former NCUA Board members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka.
In a court filing Wednesday, government attorneys argued that the Boyle v. Trump decision is “distinguishable” from the Harper-Otsuka case because of key differences in the underlying statutes. In Boyle, a federal judge ruled that the president could not remove CPSC commissioners without cause and ordered their reinstatement. The CPSC statute includes explicit for-cause removal protections, stating commissioners may only be removed for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”
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The government told the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that “NCUA Board members have no such express statutory protection against removal” and argued that “no implicit protection against removal should be read into the governing statute here.”
The Justice Department further emphasized that it disagrees with the Boyle decision entirely, calling it incorrect and noting that the government has appealed the ruling to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. “The district court’s ruling in Boyle is not binding here,” the filing states.
The filing also pointed to Supreme Court precedent, including Seila Law v. CFPB and Trump v. Wilcox, as supporting the president’s authority to remove Harper and Otsuka at will.
The Harper-Otsuka lawsuit, which challenges their April 2025 removal from the NCUA Board by former President Donald Trump, remains pending in the D.C. District Court, with a decision expected before the NCUA’s next board meeting in July.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
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