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Main: President Donald Trump speaks at a reception celebrating Greek Independence Day in the East Room of the White House, Monday, March 24, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin). Inset: Todd Harper testifies during the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs oversight hearing on financial stability, supervision, and consumer protection, Thursday, May 18, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib).
The Trump administration is facing yet another lawsuit — this one from two recently fired Senate-confirmed board members of an independent agency created by Congress to oversee about $2.3 trillion in federal credit unions and protects the accounts of more than 142 million Americans.
The complaint, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., claims that President Donald Trump terminated Todd M. Harper and Tanya F. Otsuka “without explanation and without any cause” while they were “in the middle of their fixed terms” with the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
The firings are part of Trump’s push to bring otherwise independent federal agencies under the control of president by ousting members who were appointed by Democratic presidents. A consolidated case challenging the removals of members at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) has already been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.
According to the filing, no president has ever removed a member of the NCUA’s board prior to their term expiring since the agency’s current leadership framework was created in 1978.
“This case challenges the patently unlawful removal of two Senate-confirmed Members of the Board of an independent agency tasked with core functions instrumental to well-functioning financial markets: the National Credit Union Administration,” the 12-page complaint states. “That termination disregards the protections Congress established to preserve the Board’s independence and threatens the integrity of a vital federal financial regulator.”
Harper, who was initially nominated to the board by Trump in 2019, was appointed as chairman of the NCUA board by then-President Joe Biden in 2021. His term was set to expire in 2027. Otsuka began her role with the board in 2024 with her term set to run out in 2029.
The three-person board was intended by Congress to operate as an independent bipartisan panel, but the firings of Harper and Otsuka leave one person, Kyle S. Hauptman, as the sole remaining board member. Trump appointed Hauptman as the chairman of the NCUA board in January 2025.
“The President’s unprecedented and unlawful decision to terminate two-thirds of the NCUA Board legally serving within their Senate-confirmed terms and without providing any cause should concern everyone who uses a federally insured financial institution like a credit union or a bank,” Harper said in a statement provided to Reuters.
The Trump administration has pushed back against allegations that the firings were illegal or that they will leave the board unable to exercise authority, citing to another time when the board only had a single member.
“Please be assured that the NCUA has precedent and standing delegations of authority in place to continue performing all operational and statutory requirements under the authority of a single Board Member,” the agency said in a news release. “During the Bush Administration (2001–2002), Chairman Dennis Dollar acted as a sole Board Member. He held a Board meeting, voted, and took several actions, both administrative and operational.”
The administration asserted that a lone board member constitutes a quorum “when there are no other board members.”
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