President Trump’s Justice Department announced a lawsuit Tuesday against three members of the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, accusing them of defying Mr. Trump’s attempt to fire them.
Mr. Trump issued his firing order in late April, and their attempt to get a judge to declare the firings unlawful has been unsuccessful so far.
But Laura Ross, Thomas Rothman and Diane Kaplan are still acting as if they are on the board, the Justice Department said, taking part in meetings and voting on business.
“In short, defendants are defiantly acting as if the court granted the relief the court denied — raising the question of why they bothered to seek preliminary relief and consume the resources of the court and the parties if they were simply going to ignore any adverse ruling,” the department’s lawyers said in the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington.
Among the actions the board took after the firing was a change to their bylaws on May 15 purporting to block the president’s firing powers over board members.
That passed on a 4-0 vote — with all three fired members voting for it. Mr. Rothman and Ms. Kaplan were appointed by President Biden, while Ms. Ross was appointed by Mr. Trump in his first term and then reappointed by Mr. Biden.
The three also took part in a board meeting on June 10 and 11 — even though a federal judge had refused their request for an injunction against Mr. Trump by then.
Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, said the five-member board was able to operate with just two members and had maintained its independence.
The board, in a statement, declared that decision a victory and said the three members would remain.
The Washington Times has reached out to CPB for comment on the new lawsuit.
CPB’s chief activities are funding public radio and television stations.
Under the law, it is not considered a government agency but rather a nonprofit chartered by Congress. It does receive more than $500 million in federal taxpayer funding to dole out to those stations.
Mr. Trump has sent legislation to Congress to strip federal funding from public broadcasting.
The House has passed the bill and it awaits action in the Senate.
