Firings of intelligence oversight board members were illegal, judge rules

Two Democratic members of an independent privacy board were unlawfully removed from their positions by President Donald Trump, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.

Travis LeBlanc and Ed Felton, members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB), were illegally fired earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled, noting the panel had strict guidelines on how members could be removed.

“Such unfettered authority would make the Board and its members beholden to the very authority it is supposed to oversee on behalf of Congress and the American people,” Walton said in his ruling. 

“To hold otherwise would be to bless the President’s obvious attempt to exercise power beyond that granted to him by the Constitution and shield the Executive Branch’s counterterrorism actions from independent oversight, public scrutiny, and bipartisan congressional insight regarding those actions.”.

A spokesperson for the board declined to comment. The Justice Department is expected to appeal Walton’s order.

“The Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement.

“The Trump administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

Established in 2007, the board is a little-known executive branch agency that monitors the government’s spying and counterterrorism apparatus. It is designed to be run by a bipartisan group of five people, who are nominated by the president and confirmed to six-year terms by the Senate.

The removal of LeBlanc and Felton, and the already-planned departure of PCLOB chair Sharon Bradford Franklin, put the panel in “sub-quorum” status with a lone Republican member. That meant PCLOB could not open or close any existing projects, though its staff could continue to work on previously approved efforts, as it had done for several years in the past.

LeBlanc, a cybersecurity lawyer who was serving his second PCLOB term and was slated to remain a member for several more years, hailed the outcome.

“I welcome the court’s decision restoring oversight, independence, and a quorum to a federal agency whose mission is the protection of our most precious civil liberties,” he said in a statement. “Now we can get back to work. I look forward to promptly returning to the agency and continuing my service to the nation.”

Alexandra Reeve Givens, president and CEO of the nonprofit civil rights group Center for Democracy & Technology, also welcomed the decision, saying a “robust and independent PCLOB is particularly important given its role in overseeing national security programs that lack public transparency and have a history of abuse.”

The order “should enable PCLOB to return to a full quorum so it can continue its work to check government surveillance powers and enable American companies to exchange data with countries around the world,” she added. 

“Congress should also step in to shield PCLOB from future interference. Given this administration’s demonstrated disregard for Americans’ data, PCLOB’s expertise and independence are sorely needed.”

The administration faces similar legal challenges for removing members at a number of other federal entities, including the Federal Trade Commission.