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Supreme Court Case TrackerThe Court, in plain English

Emergency application

President's power to fire officials

Donald J. Trump, President of the United States v. Gwynne A. Wilcox

Granted
No. 24A966Stay applicationFiled by the federal governmentPresented to The Chief JusticeFrom United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

What did the Court do?

The Court granted the request on May 22, 2025: the lower court's ruling is on hold while the appeal continues.

Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case. Justice Kagan, Justice Sotomayor, and Justice Jackson would have ruled the other way.

Filed Ruled 43 days after filing

What's being asked

The federal government asks the Supreme Court to temporarily pause two District of Columbia federal court orders. Those orders blocked President Trump's removal of National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox and Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris. The government argues the President may remove them without giving a specific reason, although the laws require a specific reason.

What the Court did

The Court gave the government emergency help by granting a stay (temporary pause) of two district-court orders. It remains in place through the D.C. Circuit appeal and, if review is timely requested, until the Supreme Court case ends. It did not decide whether removal protections apply to either board; Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson disagreed with the result (dissented).

  • Dissented
  • Wrote separately
  • Vote not published
Dissenting · 3recorded against the Court's order
  1. Sotomayorjoined Kagan's writing
  2. Kaganwrote a dissent
  3. Jacksonjoined Kagan's writing
Vote not published · 6the order does not say how they voted
  1. Roberts
  2. Thomas
  3. Alito
  4. Gorsuch
  5. Kavanaugh
  6. Barrett
The order records the positions of 3 of 9 justices. The Court usually does not say how each justice voted on an emergency application, so the rest are shown as not published.
Half of 300 rulings on applications decided without a response came 8 to 28 days after filing, and the median was 14 days; this one was ruled on 43 days after filing.

What it means

The temporary pause does not decide who wins the underlying cases. The appeals continue in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit; no related Supreme Court case or argument date is listed.

Separate writings

  • Justice Kagan, joined by Justice Sotomayor and Justice Jackson, dissenting

    Read (PDF)

Sources

Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A966. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.

Checked October 4, 2026