Former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown contends President Donald Trump forced him off the National Transportation Safety Board as part of a broader ouster of Black leaders from independent federal agencies.
Brown leveled the race discrimination claim Dec. 4 in an ongoing federal case that seeks his return to the National Transportation Safety Board that he says Trump illegally fired him from in May.
The Trump administration has countered the president has full authority to dismiss board members without having to show cause for the removal.
Brown, who served as mayor from 2011 to 2015, was appointed by President Joe Biden to the National Transportation Safety Board and confirmed by the Senate in 2024 for a term running through Dec. 31, 2026. Trump forced Brown off the board in May.
“When you look at who has been removed without cause and who has been left in place, the pattern is impossible to ignore,” Brown said in as statement. “Black commissioners across the federal government have been summarily fired.”
He said his “abrupt removal was unlawful, and it was discriminatory. I’m taking this step to ensure what happened to me does not happen in the shadows.”
Robert Primus, who was ousted from the Surface Transportation Board, also added a racial discrimination claim to his federal lawsuit over his removal by the Trump administation.
“I was removed abruptly, without cause and without any legal justification,” Primus said. “It’s clear this removal fits a larger pattern within this administration of targeting Black officials.”
Brown filed a lawsuit in June contending federal law spells out that board members can only be removed for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. Brown’s lawsuit said Trump did not show any cause for removing him so it was illegal.
The Trump administration has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing the law requiring a president to show cause for a removal is unconstitutional.
Democracy Forward and Justice Legal Strategies represent both Brown and Primus in their federal lawsuits.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Former Jacksonville mayor says Trump ousted him from NTSB over race
Reporting by David Bauerlein, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
