Supreme Court delays Trump's firing of agency head
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
President Trump in the Oval Office at the White House on Friday. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The U.S. Supreme Court is holding off on interfering in a lower court decision to block the Trump administration from firing the head of an independent watchdog agency that investigates federal workers' whistleblower reports.
Why it matters: The case concerning the removal of Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel is the first of what's expected to be several appeals to the high court since President Trump regained office and moved to fire government workers in a federal workforce overhaul.
- The Trump administration is facing multiple lawsuits challenging the actions.
Driving the news: The Supreme Court decided Friday to postpone its decision until the lower court's ruling expired on February 26.
- Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, saying they would have denied the administration's request.
- Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito also dissented, writing they would have allowed the Trump administration's request.
Catch up quick: Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said in the administration's filing that a federal judge's order temporarily blocking Dellinger's dismissal, which the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit declined to overrule, marks an "unprecedented assault on the separation of powers."
- Harris added: "This court should not allow lower courts to seize executive power by dictating to the President how long he must continue employing an agency head against his will."
The big picture: The Senate confirmed Dellinger in his role for a five-year term last March after he was nominated by then-President Biden.
- Dellinger accuses the Trump administration in a lawsuit of unlawfully firing him.
- Federal law states that a special counsel "may be removed by the President only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office."
- Representatives for Dellinger did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.
Read the emergency filing, obtained by The Hill, via DocumentCloud:
Go deeper: Tests of Trump's power on fast tracks to the Supreme Court
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details from the decision.
