Supreme Court Urged to Keep Pause on Trump Firing of Agency Head

The head of a US whistleblower-protection agency urged the US Supreme Court to let him stay in his job for the time being, saying his firing by President Donald Trump would weaken the office at an “especially unfortunate moment.”

The filing by Hampton Dellinger comes two days after Trump asked the court to intervene for the first time in his campaign to oust federal officials who don’t embrace his views. Trump on Sunday asked the court to lift a temporary restraining order that shields Dellinger from being removed from his position at the US Office of Special Counsel for 14 days.

“This would be an especially unfortunate moment at which to weaken the OSC, given the historic upheaval currently occurring within federal employment and the continued importance of ensuring that whistleblowers are guarded from reprisal,” Dellinger argued in court papers Tuesday.

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.

Hampton Dellinger

Source: US Department of Justice

The appeals court said it would mark a “sharp departure” from normal procedures to let the administration appeal the temporary order rather than waiting two weeks for a more fulsome trial court ruling. Two Democratic appointees formed the majority on the appeals court, while a Republican nominee dissented.

In her request Sunday, acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said the justices “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 case is Bessent v. Dellinger, 24A790.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

Sara Forden

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