WASHINGTON, D.C. (Bloomberg Law) — For nearly half a century, the Merit Systems Protection Board has existed to shield civil servants from political reprisal.
But over the past several months, the Trump administration has eroded the panel’s authority in a series of steps that some former officials say have left the board a shell of the institution it once was.
Technical changes, legal theories recast along ideological lines, and conservative-leaning court decisions have moved some of the MSPB’s core responsibilities to other agencies or hollowed them out altogether. The changes are part of a wider overhaul that the Trump administration says will improve efficiency, but one that critics say leaves workers without an independent panel to adjudicate allegations of wrongdoing.
“They’re taking the power that the MSPB has in determining federal employment, and they’re making federal employment, really, on an at-will basis,” said Michael Fallings, a partner at law firm Tully Rinckey, who specializes in federal employment. “If this continues, the MSPB will cease to function.”
Rules set to take effect next month will strip appeals from the MSPB and hand them to the Office of Personnel Management, an arm of the executive branch headed by a business partner of Trump mega-donor Marc Andreessen. The MSPB quietly scrubbed the word “independent” from its website—a reflection of a landmark US Supreme Court ruling that gave Trump broad authority to fire members of quasi-judicial boards. Efforts by the White House to reclassify thousands of workers could further limit the board’s involvement.
In the upcoming changes, the personnel office will wrest control of appeals over certain probationary employee terminations, suitability for federal service, and reduction-in-force layoffs. While the MSPB will continue to oversee other types of appeals, such as whistleblower retaliation and poor-performance discipline, skeptics say neither agency will fulfill the role of an independent auditor of the executive branch.
The OPM rules also prevent workers from appealing decisions to federal court — a right granted by law under the MSPB system.
“It’s that classic the fox guarding the henhouse,” said Raymond Limon, a Biden appointee to the MSPB whose term expired last year. Congress was trying to get away from cronyism when it passed the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, “and now, we’re going back to it,” Limon added.
The administration has said the appeals updates will reduce wait times while preserving independent review, with separate staff handling determinations and appeals. Other recent shifts allow agencies to scrutinize workers through background checks after they’re hired, change the layoff queue to prioritize performance over seniority, and issue nondisclosure agreements.
“The system is much too complex, and it takes much too long to get anything done,” said Donald Devine, who served as OPM director during the Reagan administration. “Almost anything done to speed it up is a good thing.”
In a July Substack post, OPM Director Scott Kupor wrote that the MSPB serves “a legitimate and important function” and said the changes aren’t intended to undermine independent review.
Before joining the administration last year, Kupor served as a managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture capital firms. Founder Marc Andreessen gave $2.5 million to Trump in 2024, and the firm has taken a major role in shaping artificial intelligence policy in Washington.
“I will say this plainly: if our internal process does not deliver genuine independence and a fair opportunity to be heard, it will fail—and deservedly so,” Kupor wrote. “We are committed to building something that works, not just something that is faster.”
Henry Kerner and James Woodruff, the two Republicans on the MSPB, declined to comment through a spokesman.
“As you know, the MSPB generally speaks through its decisions,” spokesman Zachary Kurz said in an email.
