President Trump didn’t have the power to fire members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a federal judge ruled Friday, ordering the three ousted people to be restored to their jobs.

Judge Matthew Maddox, a Biden appointee to the U.S. District Court in Maryland, said Mr. Trump gave no cause for the firings and, under current Supreme Court precedent, a president needs one in order to fire members of independent agencies such as the CPSC.

“Accordingly, the Court finds as a matter of law that the president’s purported removal of plaintiffs from their positions as CPSC commissioners absent ’neglect of duty or malfeasance in office’ was unlawful,” Judge Maddox ruled.

Mr. Trump has argued that requiring good cause for him to fire executive branch officials violates the Constitution.

He has made that argument in other cases challenging his wave of firings.

District and circuit courts of appeals have reached differing conclusions, and Mr. Trump is seeking Supreme Court intervention to clarify things.

Judge Maddox said his read of the situation comes from a 1935 Supreme Court case, Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. The justices ruled then that President Franklin Roosevelt’s firing of a member of the Federal Trade Commission for political reasons was illegal.

More recently, the high court has allowed firings in some cases, such as with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Judge Maddox said the CPSC’s operations closely align with the FTC, so the 1935 precedent controls.

The three CPSC board members whom Mr. Trump booted from the five-person commission were Mary Boyle, Alexander Hoehn-Saric and Richard Trumka Jr.

“Depriving this five-member commission of three of its sitting members threatens severe impairment of its ability to fulfill its statutory mandates and advance the public’s interest in safe consumer products,” the judge said.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.