Biden-Era Consumer Product Regulators Sue Over Their Firing (2)

Three commissioners appointed by President Joe Biden to the Consumer Product Safety Commission sued the Trump administration Wednesday over their firings this month.

Commissioners Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, and Richard Trumka Jr. said the statute that authorizes the commission only allows the president to remove commissioners for neglect of duty and that the administration didn’t explain why they were being terminated.

They “have served ably in their roles as CPSC Commissioners, and the president lacks a statutorily cognizable basis for terminating them,” the complaint said.

They sued President Donald Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought, and acting Chairman of the CPSC Peter Feldman.

The trio is asking the US District Court for the District of Maryland for an order enjoining the Trump Administration officials from keeping them from their duties and from firing their staff.

The independent regulatory commission is tasked with developing safety standards for consumer products and investigating the causes and prevention of product-related deaths and injuries. It was created when Congress enacted the Consumer Product Safety Act in 1972, and is made of five commissioners who serve staggered seven-year terms.

Commissioners Boyle, Hoehn-Saric, and Trumka were appointed by Biden to serve terms ending in October 2025, October 2027, and October 28, respectively.

Their firings are part off an onslaught of federal agencies mass layoffs spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency.

The CPSA says that commissioners can be removed by the president before the end of their terms for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office but for no other cause.”

In their complaint, Boyle and Trumka allege they received emails from Deputy Director of Presidential Personnel Trent Morse on May 8 stating that their positions had been terminated immediately. Hoehn-Saric said he attempted to get to his offices on May 9, but was blocked. He added that Feldman, the acting chair of the CPSC, called to tell him he’d been fired and and that he should leave.

“The Constitution gives President Trump the power to remove personnel who exercise his executive authority,” a spokesperson for the White House said in an email. “The Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue.”

The commissioners are represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group.

The case is Boyle v. Trump, D. Md., No. 8:25-cv-01628, complaint filed 5/21/25.