US Supreme Court refuses to let Trump fire whistleblower agency head

In a splintered decision, the US Supreme court declined to rule directly on Trump's bid to lift a trial judge's order that is keeping Hampton Dellinger in his job at the Office of Special Counsel

By Greg Stohr

 

The US Supreme Court declined for now to let President Donald Trump oust the head of a federal whistleblower agency, letting the official stay in the job until at least Wednesday. 

In a splintered decision, the high court declined to rule directly on Trump’s bid to lift a trial judge’s order that is keeping Hampton Dellinger in his job at the Office of Special Counsel. But the court said that order could stay in place until it expires on Wednesday, the same day the judge will hold a hearing to consider what steps to take next.

 

 

The high court decision came in Trump’s first foray there since he started his second term with a torrent of measures designed to transform the government and assert sweeping presidential power. The Dellinger fight is part of a broader Trump effort to seize control of independent federal agencies.

 

The court gave only a limited explanation. It said Trump’s request would be “held in abeyance until February 26,” noting the “very short duration” of the temporary restraining order.

 

Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have rejected Trump’s bid to vacate the restraining order, while conservative Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch said they would have granted the president’s request.

 

In its request, the administration urged the court to send a message to judges managing at least a dozen requests to pause White House initiatives involving the federal workforce, government spending, citizenship rights and Elon Musk’s “government efficiency” team. Trump asked the justices to carve out a presidential exception to the normal rule that temporary restraining orders can’t be appealed.

 

“This court should not allow the judiciary to govern by temporary restraining order and supplant the political accountability the Constitution ordains,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the court.

 

Dellinger said in a court filing that Trump was trying to short-circuit the normal rules of litigation. He said the administration was seeking “a rocket docket straight to this court, even as high-stakes emergency litigation proliferates around the country.”

 

Dellinger was nominated by then-President Joe Biden and confirmed by the Senate for a five-year term that started in March 2024. Federal law says the special counsel can be removed only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

 

The special counsel’s office is an independent agency established in 1978 to protect federal government employees from prohibited employment practices, particularly reprisals for whistleblowing. The agency has authority to investigate alleged wrongdoing and file petitions on behalf of workers at the Merit Systems Protection Board, but the office can’t impose sanctions or press lawsuits against other government bodies.

 

The special counsel’s office isn’t related to the criminal prosecutions of Trump during Biden’s presidency by a lawyer with a similar title.

 

The case is Bessent v. Dellinger, 24A790.