Dive Brief:

• An appeals court on Friday granted the Trump administration’s emergency motion to stay a district court’s decision days earlier to reinstate two Democratic members of the National Credit Union Administration.
• In his July 22 ruling, U.S. District Judge Amir Ali pointed to Congress’s restriction of the president’s powers to remove board members. President Donald Trump fired Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka earlier this year, giving no cause for their removals. Ali had said the administration’s arguments for their firings were “unavailing.”
• The Trump administration quickly appealed Ali’s ruling and requested the stay. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said the emergency motion was granted to “give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the emergency motion for stay pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion.”

Dive Insight:

Following the July 22 ruling, while they were briefly reinstated, Harper and Otsuka attended the Thursday meeting of the NCUA board, according to America’s Credit Unions. 

Harper and Otsuka have until Aug. 4 to file a response, according to the circuit court’s order. Attorneys for Harper and Otsuka didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

America’s Credit Unions CEO Jim Nussle said the trade group “firmly supports a fully staffed, three-member NCUA board, so the agency can effectively fulfill its independent oversight missions,” in a statement posted on LinkedIn. “We respect the judicial process and will continue to closely monitor the appeals proceedings as they move forward.” 

Trump fired Harper and Otsuka in April, leaving only Republican Chair Kyle Hauptman on the NCUA board. Harper and Otsuka then filed a lawsuit against Trump, arguing the move violates Congress’s mandate and leaves the NCUA board without a quorum. 

In May, Harper said he views the Trump administration’s move to oust board members as part of a broader strategy ultimately targeting the Federal Reserve. Later that month, the Supreme Court exempted the Fed from its order granting the Trump administration’s emergency request to uphold the firing of officials at the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board, calling the central bank “a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”