Fired Surface Transportation Board member sues Trump over his dismissal ahead of rail merger review

Key Points

• Robert Primus, a Democratic member of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, has filed a lawsuit against Trump, claiming his dismissal prior to a major rail merger review was illegal.
• The lawsuit highlights concerns about the independence of the Surface Transportation Board and the impact of politically motivated dismissals on the supply chain and economy.
• Primus' termination altered the board's balance, allowing Trump to appoint additional members, which raised accusations of stacking the board for favorable approval of the Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merger.
• This incident is part of a broader pattern of Trump removing members from independent boards across various agencies, raising questions about the adherence to established legal and procedural norms.

The Democratic member of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board that President Donald Trump fired ahead of the group considering the largest rail merger ever filed a lawsuit challenging his dismissal as illegal.

Robert Primus, who had served on the board since 2001, said the White House never even gave him a reason for his Aug. 27 firing that threatens the independence of the five-member STB. His termination happened before the board got a chance to start reviewing Union Pacific's proposed $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern to create the first true transcontinental railroad.

“Our country’s supply chain demands that the board be independent and transparent. Congress mandated it 138 years ago," Primus said. "Failure to do so will negatively affect the network: railroads, shippers, and rail labor alike, disrupting the supply chain and ultimately injecting instability into our nation’s economy. This is dangerous, and wrong, and cannot not be allowed to happen.”

The White House did not immediately respond to the lawsuit filed Tuesday, but the press office is running with a reduced staff in the midst of the ongoing government shutdown. At the time of the firing, the only reason offered publicly was as statement saying “Robert Primus did not align with the President's America First agenda.”

But Primus' defenders led by Skye Perryman, who is the President and CEO of Democracy Forward, said this action ignores the way the STB was set up. Congress established that the only reasons someone should be fired from the STB was in cases of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.

“President Trump continues to target members of independent boards, without cause, in violation of the law. Congress made clear when creating the Surface Transportation Board that the agency should be independent and above politics," Perryman said.

Trump has fired a string of board members at various agencies that are supposed to be independent including the Federal Reserve, the National Transportation Safety Board, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Primus said he always strove to be impartial and apolitical in his time on the board that was supposed to continue through the end of 2027. His firing broke a 2-2 tie between Republicans and Democrats on the board and cleared the way for Trump to appoint two more members.

Every rail worker union, the nonprofit Rail Passengers Association and Democratic members of Congress quickly condemned the firing when it happened. Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin said at the time Primus was fired that it looked like Trump was trying to stack the board so it will rubber-stamp the Union Pacific merger.

Since then, Trump has said the merger sounds good to him after he met with Union Pacific's CEO in the Oval Office last month.

Primus was the only board member to oppose Canadian Pacific’s acquisition of Kansas City Southern railroad when it was approved two years ago because he was concerned it would hurt competition, which remains a concern for him though he hasn't taken a position on the UP-NS deal. He was named board chairman last year by former President Joe Biden and led the board until Trump, after his election, elevated Republican Board member Patrick Fuchs to chairman.

--

This story has been corrected to show the date of Primus’ firing as Aug. 27, not Aug. 28.