The case surrounding the firing of members of the National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board has turned into one wild ride, and it just got wilder.

The Trump administration scored an initial victory, with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruling 2-1 that he could give the two Joe Biden appointees the boot. But just as the excitement over that began to settle, the appeals court decided to hear the case en banc, leading to a 7-4 decision essentially unfiring the two board members. 

Regarding the legal technicalities, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia originally sided with the Trump administration on a 2-1 vote in late March. The case was then deemed important enough to warrant an en banc review, meaning the entire slate of judges heard the case. That has now led to a 7-4 decision against the administration. 

At the time, I said it set up a big legal showdown, but I wasn’t expecting things to move this quickly. Just two days later, the Supreme Court stepped in to grant a stay, meaning the bureaucrats will stay fired (for now, at least) while this process plays out. 

🔥BOOM. SCOTUS grants stay. pic.twitter.com/Gpq6I0btwC

— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) April 9, 2025

This marks the fourth time in the last week that the nation’s high court has granted relief to the administration and shut down rulings by these lower court attempts to usurp power from the presidency. Are these end-of-the-road victories? No, but they are brushback pitches against judges who seem to be ruling more out of spite toward the Trump administration than sound legal reasoning. It’s also a good sign for how things might turn out if these cases do end up being fully heard by the Supreme Court. 

It’s notable that it has been Chief Justice John Roberts making some of these decisions, including this one. While he’s far from a reliable conservative vote on the court (despite being appointed by a Republican president), he does value order and hates controversy. That’s led to some rather cowardly votes on his part in the past, but in this situation, it’s working in Trump’s favor because many of these lower courts have pushed the envelope in ways that not even he can ignore. If there’s one thing Roberts values above all else, it’s keeping a facade of “credibility” around the legal system.

Hopefully, this portends good things are ahead for the administration’s attempts to clean up the bureaucracy. No government employee or agency should be untouchable and out of the reach of voters, and the country should not be ruled by a handful of lower court and appeals court judges largely situated around Washington, D.C.