Alvin Brown sues Donald Trump after removal from NTSB Board

Former Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown for HUD Secretary? Some say it is possible.

A former Jacksonville Mayor seeks legal redress after President Donald Trump’s administration removed him without cause from the National Transportation Safety Board.

Alvin Brown, a former Vice Chair of the panel, is suing Trump, NTSB Board Chair Jennifer Homendy, and the NTSB itself after the change in administrations rendered the Democrat expendable and allegedly “undermined the NTSB’s historic independence and interfered with its statutorily mandated duties to investigate and report on certain aircraft accidents, highway accidents, railroad accidents, marine casualties, and transportation accidents that are catastrophic or recurring.”

The filing in the D.C. federal court further alleges “significant and damaging consequences for the work of the Board” have been caused by Brown’s removal, though it stops short of specifically citing what those consequences might be.

Central to Brown’s argument is that the May termination notice from Trent Morse, the Deputy Director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, gives no reason for the termination.

The suit does cite Brown’s “long and distinguished career in urban planning, public administration, and transportation as a public servant.”

“He served as senior advisor to former Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, Vice President Al Gore’s Senior Advisor for Urban Policy, and executive director of the White House Community Empower Board. He was the first-ever Black person elected as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida and served from 2011 to 2015. During his mayoral tenure, he served as Chair of the Port and Exports Council and Vice-Chair of the Transportation Committee for the United States Conference of Mayors. He also served as senior advisor for community infrastructure opportunities at the United States Department of Transportation.”

Brown is represented by lawyers from the Democracy Forward Foundation and Justice Legal Strategies, PLLC.

The former group seeks to “bring anti-democratic actors to account” while the latter “provides customized legal, management, and strategic assistance to those in the progressive movement and their allies.”

Brown was appointed through the end of 2026, and seeks restoration until his term was slated to end.