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President-elect Donald Trump on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024 (NBC News/YouTube).
President Donald Trump “unlawfully” booted three Democrats last month from an independent oversight watchdog in charge of reviewing the government’s use of “surveillance and counterterrorism powers” — in addition to other U.S. intelligence operations — in an attempt to “eradicate a vital check on the infringement of ordinary Americans’ civil liberties,” two of the terminated members allege in a new lawsuit.
“The President’s actions strike at the heart of the separation of powers,” the former officials, Travis LeBlanc and Edward Felten, argued Monday in a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. “The sole purpose and sole result of the terminations will be to deny the Board a quorum, prevent Congress and the public from learning about how this Administration respects privacy and civil liberties, and starve Congress of the information it needs to legislate and to oversee the executive branch.”
LeBlanc and Felten were both taken off the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) by Trump late last month, along with another member — Sharon Bradford Franklin, whose term was expiring on Jan. 29 — in the midst of the president’s federal firing spree. The pair has asked Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, a George W. Bush appointee, to rule that their firings were illegal and they should have their positions back.
When Trump took office last month, four of the board’s five seats were filled, according to LeBlanc and Felten. One seat was held by an appointee “affiliated” with the Republican Party and three seats were held by appointees “affiliated” with the Democratic Party.
“Although the Board is required by statute to be bipartisan, the President purported to terminate only the Democratic members, without cause, and to leave the lone Republican member as the sole remaining member of the Board,” LeBlanc and Felten’s complaint says, referencing fellow watchdog Beth Williams, who is named as a defendant, along with Trump.
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“On information and belief, that member — Defendant Williams — encouraged the White House to fire her fellow Board Members, including Plaintiffs LeBlanc and Felten, without cause,” the pair alleges. “President Trump did not fire Plaintiffs in any effort to supervise or direct the officials who wield executive power on his behalf.”
According to LeBlanc and Felten, the PCLOB cannot regulate or impose penalties on anyone, so removing members on the claim that they would go after Trump is wrong and “unlawful.” They say Congress has previously recognized that securing the board’s independence as a nonpartisan privacy watchdog “was essential” in terms of providing recommendations and unbiased advice on existing and proposed legislation. The PCLOB is described in the suit as an “independent body of experts” that reports to the legislative branch and U.S. public on how the government “balances national security activities” with both privacy and civil liberties protections.
“The Board could not carry out these critical functions or provide candid, independent advice to Congress if its members feared that criticizing the executive branch could lead to their dismissal,” LeBlanc and Felten’s complaint says. “Nor could it do so if its members’ views had to be submitted to the executive branch for approval, revision, or censorship.”
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LeBlanc and Felten claim the president should have consulted with congressional leadership before terminating them. While nothing has been written into the statute regarding the PCLOB, the pair says the law’s structure and language indicates that the removal of watchdog leaders at independent agencies is off-limits unless there’s proper cause.
Here, they insist there is none.
“Not only do Plaintiffs’ removals eradicate a vital check on the infringement of ordinary Americans’ civil liberties, they also hobble an agency that Congress created to assist it with oversight of the executive branch,” the pair’s complaint said. “This Court must declare Defendants’ actions unlawful, and reinstate Plaintiffs to their positions on the Board.”