President Trump: Reinstating the Reform-Minded Democratic PCLOB Members Would Advance Your Agenda

​Last week saw two federal court rulings concerning President Trump’s ability to fire members of independent boards.
 
One came from the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled on Thursday that President Trump has the right to fire members of two independent boards, specifically the National Labor Relations Board and the Merit Systems Protection Board. The day before, however, a federal judge ruled that President Trump unlawfully removed two Democrats from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB).
 
The Trump administration will likely conclude that this lower court ruling stands an excellent chance of being overturned appeal. Even if that is so, however, President Trump would help himself and advance his policies if he declined to do so. The president should instead embrace this ruling as an unexpected opportunity to reconsider the decision to fire the two Democrats. Doing so would strengthen the president’s surveillance reform agenda.
 
Here's why: PCLOB was enacted by Congress to act as a watchdog to ensure that federal counterterrorism efforts do not violate the civil liberties of Americans. As a bipartisan body, it plays a unique role in checking the intelligence community’s power. Its members aren’t figureheads, or partisan actors. They are heavyweight experts in surveillance and privacy policies, providing essential oversight.
 
One of the reinstated members, Travis LeBlanc, has been vocal in consistently challenging overreach in federal surveillance of Americans. He has criticized the FBI’s warrantless searches under Section 702 of FISA and pushed for stronger privacy protections. His civil liberties stance broadly supports and advances the critique of the intelligence community and its interference in American political life held by President Trump, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and FBI Director Kash Patel.
 
These two Democrats were notably at odds with the Biden administration, which never saw an intelligence program or activity it didn’t like. Keeping LeBlanc and the other Democrat, Edward Felten, onboard avoids the risk of replacing them with less reform-minded Democrats. It would empower oversight voices who share the administration’s goal of curbing abuse within the intelligence community.
 
PPSA urges President Trump to take this opportunity to let these members continue their work. Doing so would support, rather than undermine, his expressed commitment to restoring trust and accountability in intelligence oversight.

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