Corporation for Public Broadcasting sues Trump over firing of board members

CPB, its board, and board members Laura G. Ross, Thomas E. Rothman, and Diane Kaplan filed the suit on Tuesday "seeking a judicial declaration that an email dated April 28, 2025, purportedly from Trent Morse, Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel, to three of the Board members of CPB asserting that President Trump had purportedly terminated their positions on the Board is of no legal effect given that the President has no power to remove or terminate CPB’s Board members," according to court documents filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The email stated, according to the filing, "On behalf of President Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service."

The filing stated that the email "did not identify the authority with which the President was purporting to terminate the Board members."

The CPB was established with the passing of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 by Congress, with the filing noting that in writing the Act, Congress stated that CPB is "not an agency or establishment of the United States Government," members of the board "shall not, by reasons of such membership, be deemed to be officers or employees of the United States," and employees of the federal government cannot "exercise any direction, supervision, or control over" CPB.

The Act laid out specific instructions for the removal of a board member, stating, "Members of the Board shall attend not less than 50 percent of all duly convened meetings of the Board in any calendar year. A member who fails to meet the requirement of the preceding sentence shall forfeit membership and the President shall appoint a new member to fill such vacancy not later than 30 days after such vacancy is determined by the Chairman of the Board."

The plaintiffs are seeking for a judge to declare that the email has no legal effect "because the President does not have the authority to take such action," and for the judge to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the defendants "from taking any action which gives effect to the Correspondence or otherwise seeks to interfere with or control the governance and operations of CPB."

White House Assistant Press Secretary Taylor Rogers told Bloomberg in a statement, "As numerous courts have repeatedly affirmed, the Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority. The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue."

CPB v Trump Complaint by Hannah Nightingale on Scribd