In Separate Filings, Plaintiffs Defend Constitutional Protections Against Race Discrimination and Independence of Transportation Safety Investigations

August 14, 2026 - Washington, D.C. – Unlawfully removed National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Vice Chair Alvin Brown and Surface Transportation Board (STB) Member Robert E. Primus each filed briefs urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to reject the Trump-Vance administration’s attempt to dismiss the constitutional challenges to their unlawful removals from office. In separate cases, the plaintiffs argue that, regardless of recent Supreme Court precedent concerning presidential removal authority – Trump v. Slaughter – the Constitution does not allow a president to remove a federal official because of race nor place those actions beyond judicial review.

Mr. Brown and Mr. Primus allege intentional racial discrimination in violation of the Fifth Amendment. As their briefs explain, both plaintiffs had distinguished careers in their respective fields yet were removed without cause while similarly situated white members of the NTSB and STB, including white Democratic members, were not removed. Brown and Primus are represented by Democracy Forward and Justice Legal Strategies PLLC.

The briefs also point to allegations that Mr. Brown’s and Mr. Primus’s removals occurred as part of a broader pattern of the Trump-Vance administration disproportionately removing Black officials from federal leadership positions, alongside derogatory public statements by President Trump and senior administration officials attacking diversity initiatives and suggesting linking the removal of Black public officials to those efforts. While the Trump-Vance administration has argued in their motions to dismiss the complaints that the Constitution does not apply to the President’s exercise of the removal power, Mr. Brown and Mr. Primus respond that the President is not above the law and courts are empowered to ensure the President’s actions comply with the Constitution, including the guarantee of equal protection of the laws. 

Mr. Brown also argues that the NTSB’s congressionally established for-cause removal protections remain constitutional because the agency exists to conduct unbiased, independent accident investigations and issue nonbinding safety recommendations – not to regulate or enforce federal law. Brown argues that the Supreme Court’s Slaughter decision therefore does not apply because the NTSB does not exercise executive power. 

“Presidents are entrusted with significant constitutional authority, but no one who exercises government power is above the Constitution,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “The administration’s argument would leave Americans without any judicial remedy even when a president intentionally discriminates based on race. That is not what our Constitution permits. These cases are about preserving one of our most fundamental guarantees: that government officials remain accountable when they violate constitutional rights.”

The cases are Alvin Brown v. Trump and Primus v. Trump, and the legal team at Democracy Forward includes Cynthia Liao, Ross Snyder, Joshua Salzman, Catherine Carroll, and Elena Goldstein. 

Read the Brown filing here and the Primus filing here.

Source: Democracy Forward