The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday told a lower court to assess whether a statute that lays out an administrative dispute-resolution process for federal employees is still functioning after President Donald Trump fired certain independent agency board members.
The Fourth Circuit rendered its decision in sending a challenge to a U.S. Department of Justice speech policy for immigration judges back to a district court due to “serious questions” of whether the Civil Service Reform Act is still working as Congress intended—and whether the judges’ claims can be resolved through the statute’s administrative scheme.