The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to proceed with firing two heads of independent federal agencies, for now.

“The provisional decision affects Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board, and Cathy Harris, a member of the Merit Systems Protection Board,” NBC News reports.

🚨 JUST IN: CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN ROBERTS allows Trump to fire these two federal agency heads after a court reinstated them.

Cathy A. Harris of the Merit Systems Protection Board, and Gwynne Wilcox of the National Labor Relations Board. pic.twitter.com/YOOg0cCLIZ

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 9, 2025

Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order that temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling to reinstate the two members to their positions.

🚨New: Chief Justice John Roberts has allowed President Trump to fire two federal agency heads after a court reinstated them pic.twitter.com/7pTYq4bn9P

— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) April 9, 2025

Per NBC News:

The court will decide what next steps to take in the case after hearing from lawyers for the two ousted officials.

Although the Supreme Court previously upheld protections against members of independent agencies being removed without cause, the current conservative majority has reversed course in recent cases affecting other agencies.

Wilcox was appointed to the body that adjudicates labor disputes by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. Her five-year term would have expired in 2026. Under federal law, the president can only fire members “for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”

Biden appointed Harris in 2022 to a seven-year term that has similar protections against removal. The Merit Systems Protection Board handles disputes involving federal employees.

The Trump administration asked the justices this afternoon to block orders by a pair of federal judges that instructed the government to allow board members of two independent agencies whom the president had attempted to fire to remain in office. https://t.co/33fQdFlVas

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) April 9, 2025

NEW: The Supreme Court orders that, for now, President Trump is not required to reinstate two members of independent federal agencies he wants to fire. https://t.co/3Av7rWmEyB

— NBC News (@NBCNews) April 9, 2025

From the Associated Press:

In its emergency appeal, the administration also suggested the justices should take up and decide the broader issue of presidential power. The court could hear arguments at a special session in May and issue a decision by early summer, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit voted 7-4 to return Wilcox and Harris to their jobs while their cases play out. The action of the full appeals court reversed a judgment from a three-judge panel that had allowed the firings to go forward.

The NLRB resolves hundreds of unfair labor practice cases every year. The five-member board lacked a quorum after Wilcox’s removal. Wilcox was the first Black woman to serve on the NLRB in its 90-year history. She first joined the board in 2021, and the Senate confirmed her in September 2023 to serve a second term expected to last five years.

The other board in the case reviews disputes from federal workers and could be a significant stumbling block as the administration seeks to carry out its workforce cuts.

The board members’ reinstatement “causes grave and irreparable harm to the President and to our Constitution’s system of separated powers,” Sauer wrote. Harris and Wilcox are removable “at will” by the president, he wrote.