WASHINGTON (BRAIN) — Twenty-seven members of Congress filed a brief to an appeals court to support reinstating the three Consumer Product Safety Commission members who were fired by President Trump after objecting to staff firings.
Led by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the Congressional members filed the amicus brief in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Commissioners Mary T. Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and Richard Trumpka Jr. The trio was fired in May and a lawsuit was filed later that month by Public Citizen on behalf of the commissioners in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.
The Congressional members ask for the court to preserve the CPSC independence of the agency that was granted by the Consumer Product Safety Act, which says commissioners can be removed by the president before the end of their terms only "for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office but for no other cause" as stated by Congress.
The National Consumers League, Consumer Federation of America, and other consumer protection advocates also have filed an amicus brief.
In July, the Supreme Court overturned a federal judge's ruling reinstating the three by a 6-3 decision.
