WASHINGTON — Former Surface Transportation Board member Robert E. Primus and former National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chair Alvin Brown on Thursday added racial discrimination claims to their federal lawsuits challenging their dismissals by the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump fired Brown in May and Primus in August without giving a reason for their dismissals. Both men, who are Black, say that the Trump administration has engaged in a broader pattern of disproportionately removing Black members from independent, multimember agencies.
The president has sought to exert greater control over independent agencies like the STB and NTSB. He has ousted Democratic members of the Federal Trade Commission, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Reserve.
By law, STB members serve fixed terms and may be removed by the president only “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” No one has suggested Primus has run afoul of those standards. [See “Primus challenges his dismissal…,” Trains.com, Oct. 1, 2025.]
Trump appointed Primus to the board in 2020 and subsequently for a full term in 2022. His current term on the board was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2027.
“I was removed abruptly, without cause, and without any lawful justification. It’s clear that my removal fits a larger pattern within this administration of targeting Black officials,” Primus said in a statement released by Democracy Forward, an organization that has filed lawsuits on behalf of both men. “These legal actions ensure that the full truth is before the court and that federal agencies remain protected from racial and political interference.”
Primus was the only member of the STB to vote against the 2023 merger of Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern, citing its potential impact on competition. His dismissal came less than a month after Union Pacific announced its plan to acquire Norfolk Southern for $85 billion, a deal that must be reviewed by the STB.
Democracy Forward said that Black commissioners and board members have been removed by the Trump administration at significantly higher rates, and that many boards that were racially diverse have rapidly shifted toward overwhelmingly white membership.
“When you look at who has been removed without cause, and who has been left in place, the pattern is impossible to ignore: Black commissioners across the federal government have been summarily fired,” Brown said in a statement. “My abrupt removal was unlawful, and it was discriminatory. I’m taking this step to ensure that what happened to me does not happen in the shadows.”
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
Brown’s filing is available here.
Primus’s filing is available here.
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