A federal judge on Tuesday invalidated President Trump’s attempt to fire Cathy Harris, the chairwoman of the Merit Systems Protection Board, finding that her term in office is protected by a federal law meant to ensure the board’s independence from political considerations.

Judge Rudolph Contreras granted Harris’ request to issue a temporary restraining order on the basis that the two-sentence White House email purporting to remove her from her position didn’t meet the legal requirements to fire a member of the MSPB, the three-member board that adjudicates federal employees’ claims of wrongful termination and other allegations of civil service rule violations.

“Harris has established that this case represents a ‘genuinely extraordinary situation’ meriting injunctive relief for a discharged government employee,” Contreras wrote. “The conditions under which the president may end her tenure are made plain by federal statute and supported by ninety years of Supreme Court precedent.”