Two former immigration judges who were fired from the Justice Department last year are challenging the Trump administration’s assertion that the president has constitutional authority to fire them for any reason.
Represented by the Washington Litigation Group, the appellants allege that their firings in February 2025, occurring without cause or due process, directly violated the Civil Service Reform Act, which entitles career federal employees to “pre-termination processes.”
Attorneys representing the two immigration judges submitted a petition for review to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday. The challenge comes after the Merit Systems Protection Board issued a decision Friday, asserting that the DOJ’s firings of the two assistant chief immigration judges, Megan Jackler and Brandon Jaroch, were allowed under Article II of the U.S. Constitution.
In the March 20 decision, the two current MSPB members, both Republicans, affirmed that the Trump administration does have the constitutional authority to fire immigration judges — and that MSPB does not have jurisdiction to intervene in those decisions.
]]>
The board determined that the president’s constitutional power to fire “inferior officers” for any reason includes immigration judges — although historically, that power has been reserved for personnel decisions involving political appointees. MSPB held, however, that immigration judges are therefore not entitled to civil service proceedings prior to being fired.
Nathaniel Zelinsky, senior counsel with the Washington Litigation Group, called MSPB’s March 20 decision “dead wrong,” and warned that it may lead to much broader erosion of civil service protections across the federal workforce.
“[It] contradicts more than a century of binding Supreme Court precedent, dating to the 1800s,” Zelinsky said. “Under the board’s breathtaking decision, the president can now fire these hardworking men and women, many of them military veterans like Brandon and Megan, based on political affiliation, race, gender or even religion — or for no reason at all. That is incredibly dangerous, and it should scare all Americans.”
The board’s decision last week reverses an MSPB administrative judge’s initial ruling in August 2025 that the two immigration judges were fired without due process and ordered their reinstatement. The judge, at the time, determined that the appellants were entitled to Title 5 procedures, including “pre-termination processes,” and that they cannot be fired at-will.
In September 2025, the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel then issued its own opinion on the matter, asserting that the terminations were constitutionally permissible. The agency stated that MSPB administrative judges “must adjudicate the constitutional issues raised by the agencies.”
“As the board correctly held, these terminations are lawful under Article II and this Department of Justice is confident that this decision will withstand further legal scrutiny,” a DOJ spokesperson told Federal News Network by email.
Raymond Limon, a former MSPB member and former career human capital executive, said the board’s Friday decision is unprecedented — where employees had certain appeal rights upon being hired, but are now being told they no longer have those rights. Limon said the board’s decision follows a pattern of the Trump administration’s attempts to erode federal employees’ civil service protections.
]]>
“This is part and parcel of a disturbing trend and the retreat back to the spoils system,” Limon said. “That could certainly go into other types of positions, in which an argument will be made that they are not entitled to due process. That’s a very dangerous environment for us to be in.”
Other efforts from the Trump administration to overhaul personnel policy include the forthcoming Schedule Policy/Career classification, as well as recent proposals to overhaul employee appeal processes during terminations from a reduction in force (RIF) or a suitability action.
“They may wind up with the same result, but they are different paths that this administration is taking in order to disassemble the protections federal employees have had for decades,” said Kevin Owen, a partner at Gilbert Employment Law. “The administration is very openly trying to have any legal restrictions on the president’s hiring and firing abilities under the law nullified as unconstitutional — and broadly say that the president has no limitations in any personnel decisions … It’s becoming very clear that there need to be legislative fixes, both to reinforce the civil service protections and prevent them from being abolished by mere regulation.”
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email drew.friedman@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at drewfriedman.11
Copyright
© 2026 Federal News Network. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.