President Donald Trump has actually transferred to fire Democratic members of two independent federal commissions, an extraordinary break from decades of legal precedent that promises to hand Republicans control over boards that manage swaths of U.S. workers, employers and labor unions.

On Monday night, he dismissed two of the three Democrats on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission - Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows, previously the chair, the White House validated Tuesday. He also fired the chair of the National Labor Relations Board, Gwynne Wilcox, a Democrat, an NLRB representative confirmed Tuesday.

All three said they are exploring their legal options against the administration - cases that legal scholars say could reach as far as the Supreme Court.

Trump also removed the EEOC’s basic counsel, Karla Gilbride, who supervise civil actions versus companies on a variety of concerns, consisting of discrimination claims from LGBTQ+ and pregnant workers. And he terminated Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB’s basic counsel. Their departures toss into concern the status of various actions underway at both firms, including against billionaire Elon Musk’s electrical car business, Tesla.

“These were far-left appointees with extreme records of overthrowing long-standing labor law, and they have no place as senior appointees in the Trump administration, which was offered a mandate by the American individuals to undo the radical policies they produced,” a White House authorities said, employment speaking on the condition of privacy under guideline set by the administration.

In statements released Tuesday, Burrows and Samuels both called their eliminations “extraordinary.”

“Removing me from my position before the expiration of my Congressionally directed term is extraordinary, violates the law, and represents a basic misconception of the nature of the EEOC as an independent company - one that is not managed by a single Cabinet secretary however operates as a multimember body whose differing views are baked into the Commission’s design,” Samuels wrote.

In dismissing her, she included, the White House critiqued her views on sex discrimination, diversity, equity and addition (DEI) programs, and ease of access problems. She said the criticism misinterpreted “the standard concepts of equivalent job opportunity.”

Burrows wrote that her elimination “will undermine the efforts of this independent firm to do the crucial work of securing employees from discrimination, supporting companies’ compliance efforts, and broadening public awareness and understanding of federal work laws.”

Wilcox, the NLRB member, composed in a statement that she will pursue “all legal avenues to challenge my removal, which breaks long-standing Supreme Court precedent.”

The elimination of basic counsels is not without precedent: President Joe Biden fired Trump-appointed general counsels at the EEOC and NLRB upon getting in workplace in 2021. Yet dismissing members of independent commissions represents a significant break from Supreme Court precedent dating to 1935, which holds that the president can not remove members of independent firms such as the EEOC except in cases of neglect of responsibility, impropriety or inefficiency.

Trump’s actions leave both five-member boards without sufficient members to carry out service. The boards now have only two members