The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) sued President Donald Trump on Tuesday in order to prevent the termination of three board members.
The CPB helps fund public media corporations such as NPR and PBS, which the Trump administration has targeted as it seeks to cut back on spending. Trump sought to remove three of the five CPB board members from their positions, but the corporation responded with a lawsuit arguing that the president lacks authority to remove board members.
Trent Morse, the deputy White House director of presidential personnel for the executive office of the president, sent an email on Monday informing three CPB board members they were “terminated effective immediately.”
The CPB responded with a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. It names Morse, along with Trump and other administration officials, as defendants.
The complaint repeatedly emphasizes CPB’s independence, as established by the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The CPB is asking the court to declare Morse’s email “is of no legal effect because the President does not have the authority to take such an action,” and award CPB costs and legal fees along with other relief deemed just and proper.
Trump remains confident he will prevail.
“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,” a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
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CPB board members are appointed by the president and receive six-year terms. The lawsuit noted that the Public Broadcasting Act doesn’t mention that the president can remove board members and omits the “typical statutory provision when creating a federal agency that the Board members serve at the pleasure of the President.”
Trump is attempting to remove Biden-appointed board members Tom Rothman and Diane Kaplan, along with Laura Gore Ross, who was appointed by Trump in 2018.
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“Congress conceived CPB as a vehicle for infusing federal money into public broadcasting without the introduction of government direction or control, with Congress reserving for itself the oversight responsibility for the CPB by, among other things, controlling the appropriations for CPB and public broadcasting. Moreover, Congress protected the CPB from the executive branch by withholding from CPB any form, pure or quasi, of legislative, judicial, or regulatory power,” the lawsuit stated.
“Indeed, in the course of its business, CPB has no ability to regulate any aspect of public media, resolve disputes among stations, dictate content of public media stations, or render any form of judgment over any other entity or organization,” the complaint continued. “CPB does not, and cannot, infringe on or aid the executive branch’s ability to carry out or implement the laws.”
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