In March, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from firing Susan Grundmann, the Biden-appointed chair of the ostensibly independent Federal Labor Relations Authority, but that injunction was appealed.

On Wednesday, a three-judge appellate panel issued an administrative stay that placed the district court's injunction on hold, effectively allowing the Trump administration to move ahead with Grundmann's removal from the FLRA, The Hill reported.

The stay is only temporary, however, and is intended solely to grant the appellate court more time to fully consider the administration's appeal of the district court's order that reinstated Grundmann to her prior position.

Removal blocked by an injunction

In February, Grundmann was terminated from her Biden-appointed position as chair of the FLRA, which handles labor disputes between the federal government and its employees, and she promptly filed a lawsuit to challenge her removal.

Roughly one month later, Biden-appointed D.C. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan summarily ruled that the firing of Grundmann was "unlawful" and that she be reinstated to her position immediately with backpay.

At issue here is a provision of the statute that created the FLRA in the 1970s, 5 U.S.C. § 7104(b), which states: "Members of the Authority shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and may be removed by the President only upon notice and hearing and only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office."

Grundmann was fired via a two-sentence email that provided no reason for the termination of her employment before the expiration of her five-year term, nor was she provided with any advance notice or a hearing to challenge the decision.

Injunction temporarily stayed

A couple of months after that ruling, the Trump administration appealed Judge Soonanan's injunction against the removal of Grundmann, and a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals finally took action about a month later.

On June 18, the three appellate judges, all of whom were appointed by President Donald Trump during his first term, issued a temporary ruling in the administration's favor that paused the district court's injunction "pending further order of this court."

"The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunity to consider the motion for a stay pending appeal and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of that motion," the panel noted.

The judges further set June 23 and June 27 as the dates for Grundmann and the administration, respectively, to respond and reply to the order.

Many such cases

According to Just Security's Litigation Tracker, the Grundmann case is just one of at least 281 legal challenges that have been filed against the administration since President Trump took office in January, of which only around a dozen have been closed.

It is also just one of 11 cases -- only one of which has been settled -- that involve the removal of members or leaders of purportedly independent agencies, boards, and commissions that are part of the executive branch but ostensibly have congressionally authorized limited protections against termination.

Those limitations imposed by Congress on the president have come under scrutiny of their own, however, and it seems likely that at least one of these cases will eventually compel the Supreme Court to rule definitively on whether or not the head of the executive branch truly has full control over who works for them.