Attorney General Ellison again asks court to preserve National Labor Relations Board

Co-leads second amicus brief in this case after court last week called President’s purported firing of Gwynne Wilcox ‘blatantly illegal’

March 12, 2025 (SAINT PAUL) — Minnesota Attorney General Attorney General today co-led a coalition of 21 attorneys general in filing a second amicus brief in continued opposition to President Donald Trump’s unlawful attempt to remove Gwynne Wilcox, a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Dismissing Wilcox would leave just two members remaining on the five-member board, which cannot act without a quorum of at least three members.

On March 6, a federal judge ruled in Wilcox v. Trump that Trump’s attempt to fire Wilcox was illegal and ordered that she remain on the board, writing, “in the ninety years since the NLRB’s founding, the President has never removed a member of the Board. His attempt to do so here is blatantly illegal, and his constitutional arguments to excuse this illegal act are contrary to Supreme Court precedent and over a century of practice.” On February 28, Attorney General Ellison led the same coalition of attorneys general in their first amicus brief in support of Ms. Wilcox.

Now, the Trump administration has asked for a stay to stop the court’s March 6 ruling, which ruled Ms. Wilcox’s firing illegal, from going into effect while it seeks an appeal. If granted, a stay of the court’s ruling would effectively allow Ms. Wilcox’s firing to take effect. In response, Attorney General Ellison and the coalition urge the court in their second amicus brief today to deny the administration’s request for a stay. They argue that if the illegal attempt to dismiss Wilcox is allowed to stand, it would undermine protections for workers and destabilize federal labor law.

“Once again today, I’m leading a coalition of fellow attorneys general in standing up for the rule of law and standing up against Donald Trump’s attempt to gut protections for working people across the country,” said Attorney General Ellison. “The NLRB protects workers’ ability to stand up for themselves by forming a union and bargaining for better wages and working conditions. The billionaire president and his unelected billionaire buddies who are staging a hostile takeover of our government want nothing more than to make it easier for them to take advantage of working people. We attorneys general are not having it and are once again using the law to stop him from breaking the law.”

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for administering the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which guarantees American workers the right to unionize, bargain for better wages and working conditions, and engage in activities like strikes and pickets. Under the law, the NLRB adjudicates labor disputes and certifies the results of union elections. The board is also responsible for administering the NLRA uniformly across the country.

On Jan. 27, 2025, President Trump attempted to dismiss Wilcox from the NLRB in the middle of her five-year term. According to federal law, board members can be removed from office only for specific reasons, such as misconduct.

The brief that the coalition filed explains that pausing the NLRB’s operations would seriously harm the public, which relies on the board’s administration of the NLRA. Collective bargaining helps workers obtain better wages, benefits and working conditions. Those benefits extend to workers in non-union jobs, too, because employers compete for workers with better wages and job protections. The NLRA also benefits employers and the broader economy by stabilizing labor-management relations and decreasing inequality.

In filing today’s amicus brief, Attorneys General Ellison and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul co-led a coalition of the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin.