Tom Rothman, the film chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, joined in a lawsuit against President Trump and other White House officials Tuesday over his ouster from the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Rothman and two other board members, Laura Ross and Diane Kaplan, were notified in an email on Monday that their positions were “terminated effective immediately.”

The CPB and the three board members sued the administration on Tuesday, alleging that the president has no authority to remove them. The CPB distributes public funding to more than 1,500 radio and TV stations around the country.

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“The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not a government entity, and its board members are not government officers,” the CPB said in a statement. “Because CPB is not a federal agency subject to the President’s authority, but rather a private corporation, we have filed a lawsuit to block these firings.”

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In the complaint, the plaintiffs argue that Congress created the CPB as an independent, non-profit corporation in order to insulate it from political interference.

“Congress wrote the Act without providing the President with any authority to remove a Board member, with or without cause,” the lawsuit states.

President Biden appointed Rothman to the board in 2021, and he was confirmed by the Senate in 2022. Kaplan, the former CEO of Alaska Public Radio, was appointed by Biden in 2022. Ross was originally appointed to the board by Trump in 2018, and reappointed by Biden.

The plaintiffs are seeking a temporary restraining order to block their firings, and to prevent the Trump administration from taking control. They also asked the D.C. district court to declare that their firings have no legal effect.

The CPB was created by Congress in 1967. The board members are appointed to six-year terms. The board is supposed to have nine members, but there are currently four vacancies.

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