The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Sony Pictures Entertainment film chair Tom Rothman and two other board members sued the Trump administration Tuesday over their sudden ouster by the Trump administration, arguing that the president lacks the authority to fire them.
The CPB, which distributes taxpayer money to TV and radio broadcasters nationwide, is leading the lawsuit, with the three fired board members as plaintiffs, according to legal documents obtained by TheWrap.
According to the lawsuit, Trump “has no power to remove or terminate CPB’s Board members. … The CPB was created by Congress to expressly be ‘a private
corporation [to] be created to facilitate the development of public telecommunications and to afford maximum protection from extraneous interference and control.’”
The suit argues that because CPB is a private entity and not a federal agency, its board members are not government officers – and therefore not subject to presidential authority. Rothman was a Biden appointee in 2021 and confirmed by congress the following year. His term is set to expire in 2026.
Because the CPB is private, compensation details for board members are not publicly disclosed. The positions are typically considered public service roles and are often unpaid or come with only modest stipends.
The lawsuit, filed in a Washington, D.C., federal district court, seeks to declare the email purporting to fire the board members is “of no legal effect”; a restraining order to prohibit the defendants from taking any further action; and award CPB costs and attorney’s fees.
Neither the White House press office nor Trump himself had issued a statement on the lawsuit on Tuesday.
