Filed Date: Feb. 24, 2025
Case Ongoing
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This case challenged the second Trump administration’s firings of two civil servants from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB). (To see the Clearinghouse's collection of civil-service-related legal challenges to actions by the second Trump administration, click here.)
Trump nominated both plaintiffs to the PCLOB in 2018 during his first term as president, and the Senate confirmed their membership. On January 21, 2025, the Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel sent the plaintiffs emails informing them that they must resign within two days or be terminated. Neither plaintiff resigned, and therefore, both were terminated.
On February 24, 2025, the plaintiffs filed this lawsuit against the defendants—PCLOB and its Executive Director and Board Member, the Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel, and President Trump—in United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs sued under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), claiming that the defendants’ removal of the plaintiffs without cause and on the basis of their political affiliation violated the APA and constitutional Due Process, and exceeded the defendants’ authority. The plaintiffs additionally claimed that they were entitled to a writ of mandamus under 28 U.S.C. § 1361. Their complaint alleged that:
[T]he 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.
Represented by law firm Arnold & Porter, the plaintiffs sought the following: declaratory relief that the defendants lacked authority to remove the plaintiffs from the PCLOB based on their political affiliations and without good cause and that the removals of the plaintiffs were unlawful; enjoinment of the PCLOB and the Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel from removing the plaintiffs from the Board; reinstatement of the plaintiffs to the PCLOB; backpay up to $10,000 (this specific request was later withdrawn in a March 12 amended complaint); a writ of mandamus requiring the PCLOB and the Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel to treat the removals of the plaintiffs from the Board as legally ineffective and to stay out of the plaintiffs’ fulfillment of their positions; attorneys' fees and costs; and any other appropriate relief. The case was assigned to District Judge Reggie B. Walton on February 25, 2025. On March 12, the plaintiffs filed an amended complaint in which they no longer sought backpay.
On March 12, 2025, the parties filed a joint motion to expedite consideration of their cross-motions for summary judgment. The same day, the plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment. The court granted the parties' motion for expedited consideration on March 13 and ordered the defendants to file their opposition to the plaintiffs' motion and their own cross-motion for summary judgment by April 3, 2025.
This case is ongoing.
Summary Authors
Sylvia Al-Mateen (3/29/2025)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69668112/parties/leblanc-v-united-states-privacy-and-civil-liberties-oversight-board/
Walton, Reggie B. (District of Columbia)
Theodore, Elisabeth S. (District of Columbia)
Yablon, Daniel Reuben (District of Columbia)
Dreier, Douglas C. (District of Columbia)
DeSousa, Jeffrey Paul (District of Columbia)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69668112/leblanc-v-united-states-privacy-and-civil-liberties-oversight-board/
Last updated April 21, 2025, 3:31 p.m.
State / Territory: District of Columbia
Case Type(s):
Presidential/Gubernatorial Authority
Special Collection(s):
Trump Administration 2.0: Challenges to the Government
Trump Administration 2.0: Challenges to the Government (Appointments/Civil Service)
Key Dates
Filing Date: Feb. 24, 2025
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Two former members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
President Trump (- United States (national) -), Federal
Office of Presidential Personnel (District of Columbia), Federal
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. §§ 551 et seq.
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: None Yet / None
Nature of Relief:
Source of Relief:
Issues
General/Misc.:
Presidential/Gubernatorial Authority: