The PROMESA Financial Oversight and Management Board was established in 2016 under President Obama, with the goal of reorganizing the debt which Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla had deemed “unpayable” and setting Puerto Rico on a sound financial footing. In August, 2025, President Trump fired all but one member of the board. Three of the members who were dismissed then sued Trump, the director of the White House Personnel Office, the oversight board’s executive director; and the remaining oversight board member.
According to the lawsuit, Trump did not have the authority to dismiss them, since the PROMESA law specifies that the president can only fire Board members “for cause.” The White House Personnel Office had sent identical emails to the three board members, saying ““On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a Member of the Financial Oversight Board for Puerto Rico is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.” However, the Board is not part of White House Personnel, so — according to the lawsuit — Trump and the White House Personnel Office did not have the authority to fire them at will.
While the president does have the authority to fire Board members for cause, doing so would have required a statement of the cause and advance notice as well as hearings. The lawsuit also therefore mentions the lack of due process, which is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution.
The Board members asked that they be reinstated as members of the board.
The decision
Judge María Antongiorgi-Jordán agreed with the plaintiffs. “The president attempted to remove plaintiffs from the oversight board without even attempting to articulate a ’cause’ for the attempted removals,” she said. “That action was plainly contrary to law.”
She said that the Board members didn’t need to be reinstated, since they had never been properly removed from their positions. The remaining Board member and the Board’s executive director have been told not to treat the plaintiffs as though they had been dismissed, and the Board issued a statement saying that it (or he) would “comply” with the order from the court.
The White House
After the suit was filed, the White House Personnel Office sent letters to the plaintiffs saying, “You were removed for cause based on your inefficiency, ineffectiveness, neglect, and failure to advance the statutory mission of the oversight board. For instance, the president has concluded that the fact that PREPA has remained in bankruptcy — despite your pouring immense sums into advisory fees with little tangible to show for it other than enriched law firms and consulting groups — demonstrates that you have been inefficient in carrying out your official duties.”
Judge Antongiorgi-Jordán said that these letters were “fundamentally defective.” Whether the the description counted as “cause” for dismissal or not, they were sent not only long after the dismissal but actually after the suit was filed, so they could not be considered notice of the cause before dismissal. They also included no hearing.
A White House spokesperson said that the administration expects to appeal the court’s decision.
Now what?
The Board has been criticized extensively during its years of service. Members of Congress and of the territory leadership have pointed out that its ability to overrule elected officials and local law shows its colonial nature, There has been anger over the austerity measures imposed by the Board. However, in a statement by Reps. Nydia Velázquez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ritchie Torres, the Members of Congress said that “with Trump’s decision on the Oversight Board, Puerto Ricans have become the latest victims of his campaign against independent institutions. We fully support the lawsuit filed by these members, because we believe in the work they have done to stop the vulture funds that threaten Puerto Rico’s energy future… While there are legitimate concerns regarding the Board, this was never the way to address them. These members must be reinstated without delay so that PREPA can finally move forward with its restructuring and obtain a viable plan that secures affordable energy in the long term for every Puerto Rican home and business.”
With the three plaintiffs back on the Board, there are once again four members — a quorum — and they will be able to get back to work.
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