U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM
Former NCUA Board Members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka pushed back against an attempt by the Trump administration to pause their court-ordered reinstatement, filing a 28-page opposition brief on Aug. 4 arguing that any delay would undermine the agency’s independence and ability to function.
The brief followed a July 22 district court ruling that found their April removal by President Trump unlawful. Although the court ordered their immediate return, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued a temporary administrative stay on July 26. The court is now weighing whether to keep that stay in place pending appeal.
In their latest filing, Harper and Otsuka argued that the NCUA’s statutory structure “does not permit at-will removal,” and that “Congress did not silently delegate removal authority over NCUA Board Members to the President.” They maintained that the agency’s independence is essential to regulating the financial sector, similar to the FDIC and Federal Reserve.
They also rejected comparisons to recent stay rulings involving other federal boards, writing: “Those stays involved agencies unlike NCUA — agencies that do not regulate the financial sector, have litigation authority, or operate independently from the Executive Branch.”
The filing warned that a stay would leave the NCUA Board without a quorum, preventing it from taking action on major regulatory issues, including the federal credit union interest rate cap, which expires in March 2026.
Finally, Harper and Otsuka argued that further delay risks mooting the case altogether if either is forced to resign due to prolonged uncertainty.
“The balance of harms and the public interest weigh strongly against a stay,” the brief concluded.
The government has until Aug. 11 to file its reply.
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