Trump fires Senate-confirmed ethics watchdog in charge of Hatch violations and politically sensitive cases; Judge un-fires him for now

Trump’s power to fire executive branch officials will be tested in another lawsuit​

Hampton Dellinger, who led an ethics enforcement office, said his firing is illegal.

Dellinger was appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the Office of Special Counsel, which has no connection to the similarly titled special counsel offices that handle politically sensitive criminal cases at the Justice Department. The office enforces federal whistleblower laws and the Hatch Act — the main statute limiting political activity by federal employees. The office also fields complaints from veterans about discrimination upon their return from military service.

[Trump fired him last Friday.]

Judge to Trump-terminated ethics watchdog: You’re un-fired​

Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued the reprieve to Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, after he sued to contest the Friday night email he received from the White House indicating he’d been dismissed from his position. Dellinger, an appointee of President Joe Biden, is just one of various officials across the government whom Trump has tried to fire in recent days. Some of them are covered by federal statutes that limit the president’s authority to dismiss them.

Trump must allow Dellinger to continue to have “access” to the agency’s resources and cannot “recognize the authority of any other person as Special Counsel” while the order remains in effect, Jackson wrote.

The Justice Department quickly appealed Jackson’s order Monday night.

Jackson said she’d refrain from a formal ruling on Dellinger’s request for a temporary restraining order until the Justice Department submits written arguments in the case, which will be due by noon Tuesday.

Trump Asks Supreme Court to Let Him Fire US Agency Head​

The filing, submitted Sunday but not yet formally docketed, asks the court to lift a temporary restraining order issued by a federal trial judge in Washington. The order shields Hampton Dellinger from being removed from his position at US Office of Special Counsel for 14 days.

The weekend rush to the Supreme Court followed a Saturday night order from a divided federal appeals court rejecting the administration’s intervention request as premature.

The 2-1 appeals court decision said it would mark a “sharp departure” from normal court procedures to let the administration appeal the temporary order rather than waiting two weeks for a more [complete] trial court ruling.

Under the Supreme Court’s normal procedures, Trump’s filing will go to Chief Justice John Roberts, who can either act on his own or refer the matter to the full court. Dellinger declined to comment on the filing.

SCOTUS keeps him unfired for now.

Supreme Court temporarily blocks Trump from firing head of whistleblower office​

The justices said in an unsigned order that Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel, could remain in his job at least until Feb. 26.

essentialsaltes said:

Trump’s power to fire executive branch officials will be tested in another lawsuit​

Hampton Dellinger, who led an ethics enforcement office, said his firing is illegal.

Dellinger was appointed by President Joe Biden to lead the Office of Special Counsel

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Yo dawg, I heard you liked illegally firing people, so the guy you illegally fired says you fired all those other people illegally.

Oversight agency finds Trump’s federal worker firings unlawful, asks for some employees to be reinstated​

The Office of Special Counsel, the agency responsible for investigating illegal actions taken against federal employees, issued its decision for six employees, each at different agencies. While the decision was technically limited in scope, it could have immediate impact on all terminated staff at those six agencies and could set a wide-ranging precedent across government. It has not been made public and was provided to Government Executive by a source within the government. OSC, which did not provide the document to Government Executive, verified its authenticity.

OSC has turned the case over to the quasi-judicial Merit Systems Protection Board for enforcement of its findings and is so far requesting a 45-day stay on the firing decisions.

(fired again, at least temporarily)​

Trump can remove the head of watchdog agency for now, appeals court says​

A federal appeals court is temporarily allowing President Donald Trump to remove the head of a watchdog agency, overturning a lower court’s decision from this weekend.

In a two-page ruling on Wednesday, a panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit granted an emergency stay of the lower court’s order, allowing the president to remove Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger from his role running an independent watchdog agency tasked with protecting federal employees.