Federal Judge Likely to Extend Order Blocking the Firing of Special Counsel
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington, D.C., indicated Wednesday that she was likely to extend a court order to prevent the firing of the head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel.
The office enforces ethics standards and oversees whistleblower complaints within the federal government.
After special counsel Hampton Dellinger publicly opposed mass firings the Trump administration is using to reorganize the federal government, the president notified Dellinger that he was fired.
Dellinger sued in U.S. District Court, which led Judge Amy Berman Jackson to grant a temporary restraining order against firing him.
The two-week temporary restraining order was scheduled to expire Wednesday. The judge said the dispute created “an extraordinarily difficult constitutional issue.”
Dellinger’s attorneys made similar arguments, saying the constitutional separation of governmental powers meant that the special counsel’s authorization from Congress to oversee an independent ethics agency gives the president no authority to fire him without proof of misconduct.
The implications of the judge’s ruling extend far beyond Dellinger to include any federal agency that is supposed to act independently to monitor ethics and corruption in the government.
Dellinger’s lawsuit came before the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this month after the Trump administration filed an emergency appeal.
Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson voted to override President Donald Trump’s decision to fire Dellinger. Conservative Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito disagreed, saying the courts lack authority to second guess the president.
They decided to kick the case back to the lower court for a judgment on the restraining order before they will agree to make a final ruling. They said it was too soon for Supreme Court intervention while the case was pending in the district court.
Dellinger’s case was the first to reach the Supreme Court as the mass firings continue. He was fired by email on Feb. 7.
His mandate from Congress says he could only be fired from his five-year appointment for performance issues, such as neglect of duty or malfeasance.
The one-sentence email terminating his job did not allege any misconduct. It said, “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is terminated, effective immediately.”
Dozens of lawsuits challenging firings of federal employees also say the president is acting without constitutional authority in getting rid of workers without cause.
After Jackson granted the two-week temporary restraining order, Dellinger released a statement saying, “I am glad to be able to continue my work as an independent government watchdog and whistleblower advocate. I am grateful to the judges and justices who have concluded that I should be allowed to remain on the job while the courts decide whether my office can retain a measure of independence from direct partisan and political control.”
The latest example of the struggle between the Office of Special Counsel and the president was Tuesday, when an independent federal employment board halted the firings of six probationary employees.
Dellinger had told the Merit Systems Protection Board they were probably illegal. He also asked for time to complete an investigation of why the employees were fired.
The MSPB granted a 45-day stay of the job terminations “while OSC further investigates their complaints.”
The six probationary employees were represented by the Alden Law Group and the legal advocacy organization Democracy Forward.
They said in a joint statement that they would try “to expand the stay to cover all probationary federal employees who were unlawfully terminated.”
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