Trump Administration Petitions Supreme Court to Fire Special Counsel

The Trump Administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to step in and allow him to fire Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).

It’s the first time the Trump administration has gone to the Supreme Court over one of its personnel actions and the administration insists the temporary blocking of the firing infringes on the president’s executive power.

This all started when President Trump fired Dellinger as head of OSC, which investigates whistleblower retaliation and wrongdoing within the federal government and was part of a broader purge of watchdog officials.

After being fired, Dellinger sued. 

On February 12, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a temporary restraining order reinstating Dellinger to his position for 14 days while the court process played out. 

The administration appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit which denied the request on procedural grounds. 

The administration is now asking the high court to block the ruling reinstating Dellinger on a temporary basis. 

Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the U.S. Supreme Court that the ruling is an “unprecedented assault on the separation of powers that warrants immediate relief.”

“Until now, as far as we are aware,” Harris wrote, “no court in American history has wielded an injunction to force the President to retain an agency head whom the President believes should not be entrusted with executive power and to prevent the President from relying on his preferred replacement.”

The case will go first to Chief Justice John Roberts since he handles emergency appeals from the District of Columbia. Chief Justice Roberts can act on it himself or refer it to the full court for consideration. 

For his part, Dellinger insists his termination was illegal. He noted that he was fired by email and that the email made no attempt to comply with the Special Counsel’s for-cause removal protection and simply said he was fired. 

Watchdogs Fired

As FEDAgent reported earlier, Dellinger was among several government watchdogs fired by President Trump.

Also fired was David Huitema as head of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) and Cathy Harris as Chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB). 

Huitema told CBS News he hasn’t decided whether to pursue legal action. 

Former MSPB Chair Harris sued over her dismissal, saying President Trump’s one-sentence email firing her does not “allege any inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office…nor is there any basis for such an allegation.”