GAP Says Court’s Security Review Decision Turns Civil Service Rights Into ‘Soap Bubble’

The Merit Systems Protection Board is prohibited from reviewing the merits of Defense Department determinations concerning eligibility of federal employees to occupy sensitive positions that implicate national security, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled 7–3 Aug. 20 (Kaplan v. Conyers, Fed. Cir., 2011-3207, 8/20/13).

DOD indefinitely suspended Rhonda Conyers and demoted Devon Haughton Northover after determining that they were ineligible to occupy “noncritical sensitive” positions. Conyers and Northover appealed the agency’s actions to the board, and DOD argued in defense that the board could not review the merits of its eligibility determinations under ...