Dive Brief:

• Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka, former board members of the National Credit Union Administration, are asking a federal appeals court to swiftly consider their case against the Trump administration, in light of Supreme Court decisions last week related to federal agency firings.
• In a Thursday filing with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the fired board members argued the NCUA was modeled after the Federal Reserve, affording it the same independence the central bank is granted and shielding it from at-will firings by the president.
• Harper and Otsuka asked the appeals court to speed up their case. However, the Justice Department, in its response Thursday, said “the fact that the Supreme Court provided additional clarity does not justify an expedited briefing schedule, particularly when this case has been in abeyance for nearly a year.”  

Dive Insight:

President Donald Trump fired Harper and Otsuka in April 2025. The two then sued Trump and a handful of other government officials, setting off a legal back-and-forth. Their firings left just one member on the NCUA board, Republican Chair Kyle Hauptman. 

In July 2025, a district court judge reinstated Harper and Otsuka, but they were sidelined again days later after an appeals court granted the Trump administration’s motion to stay the district court’s decision. The case was then put on hold pending a Supreme Court decision on Trump v. Slaughter, concerning the at-will firing of Federal Trade Commission commissioners.  

In a 6-3 vote, the court overturned the Humphrey’s Executor precedent, which has shielded federal regulators from explicit White House control but preserved protections for entities with a “unique role” in overseeing the financial system, such as the Fed. 

Additionally, in a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court ruled Fed Gov. Lisa Cook can remain in her role at the central bank, following Trump’s attempt to remove her. 

Harper and Otsuka argued last week’s Supreme Court decisions “clear the way” for their appeal to proceed.

The district court determined “Congress deliberately modeled the NCUA on the Federal Reserve, that both agencies perform the same core market-regulatory functions — chartering, supervision, and liquidity provision — and that the NCUA’s governing structure mirrors the Federal Reserve’s in form and design,” the filing said.

They said Congress restructured the NCUA in 1978 “to secure its place within that same tradition of institutional independence.”

The former NCUA board members also pointed to the Supreme Court saying “a court may order that a removed [federal officer] remain in office during the pendency of litigation if the [officer] is otherwise entitled to a preliminary injunction,” which rejected a Trump administration argument in the case.

Harper and Otsuka said their “likelihood of success has only strengthened with the Supreme Court’s decisions,” and asked the appeals court to set a briefing schedule so their appeal can proceed.

In its response seeking denial of Harper and Otsuka’s motion to expedite, the DOJ said it “is still sorting out how to proceed in this case and others.”  

Harper’s NCUA board term is set to expire April 10, 2027; Otsuka’s, Aug. 2, 2029. Last November, the Supreme Court denied Harper and Otsuka’s request for expedited consideration of their case. 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, last week wrote to Hauptman over concerns with the agency’s “deregulation project” and its implementation while the board operates with just one member.

Hauptman has been nominated to serve as a member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. John Crews, the Treasury Department’s deputy assistant secretary for financial institutions policy, has been nominated to serve as a NCUA board member, and would replace Hauptman.