Harper, Otsuka Double Down, Say NCUA Deserves Fed-Like Independence
By CU Today Staff —
WASHINGTON— Former NCUA Board Members Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka are pressing ahead with their legal challenge to President Trump's removal of them from the agency, arguing the NCUA should be treated like the Federal Reserve System and remain insulated from at-will presidential firings despite the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision expanding executive removal authority, The Hill reported.
In a filing Thursday with the U.S. Court of Appeals, Harper and Otsuka's attorneys contended the NCUA falls within the same historical and constitutional tradition as the Federal Reserve, pointing to findings by the district court that Congress deliberately modeled the NCUA's governance structure on the central bank. The filing asks the appeals court to establish a briefing schedule so the former board members can fully argue that their removals were unlawful.
The move comes just days after the Supreme Court, in its 6-3 decision in Trump v. Slaughter, ruled the president generally has the authority to remove leaders of independent executive agencies, overturning decades of precedent that had limited that power. As CUToday.info previously reported, legal analysts said the opinion left open a potentially significant question for the Harper-Otsuka litigation because Chief Justice John Roberts suggested the ruling should not necessarily be read to apply to the Federal Reserve.
According to The Hill, Harper and Otsuka's attorneys argue the NCUA belongs in that same narrow category. Their filing says the agency shares the Federal Reserve's core financial regulatory functions, including chartering, supervision and liquidity responsibilities, and traces a similar tradition of institutional independence established by Congress.
The attorneys further argued that Congress intentionally restructured the NCUA in 1978 to mirror the Federal Reserve's independent governance model, maintaining that the agency's role supervising federally insured credit unions warrants protection from direct political control.
As CUToday.info has previously reported, the Supreme Court's opinion immediately validated Trump's removal of members of the Federal Trade Commission but left unresolved whether agencies with unique constitutional or historical characteristics—most notably the Federal Reserve—could be treated differently. That unresolved issue is now expected to become the central question in the Harper-Otsuka appeal.
The Hill also reported the Supreme Court ruling is already affecting litigation involving other independent agencies. A dismissed member of the Surface Transportation Board has withdrawn some claims challenging his removal while continuing to pursue allegations of racial discrimination, underscoring the immediate impact of the high court's decision across the federal government.
Originally reported by CU Today.