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. 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. Every rail worker union, the nonprofit Rail Passengers Association and Democratic members of Congress quickly condemned the firing when it happened. 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.