The Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to greenlight President Trump’s firing of the head of a federal whistleblower protection office, marking the new Trump administration’s first appeal to the high court.
Lower courts issued rulings temporarily reinstating Hampton Dellinger, whom former President Biden nominated to the head of the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC), in his role after Trump fired him earlier this month.
“This case involves an unprecedented assault on the separation of powers that warrants immediate relief,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in the application to the high court, which was obtained by The Hill but has not yet been docketed.
Dellinger’s role as special counsel, distinct from the role played by the same title at the Justice Department, puts him in a prime position to question actions taken by the Trump administration. The OSC provides another avenue for whistleblowers to report concerns about government wrongdoing and works to protect them from reprisal. It also responds to potential violations of the Hatch Act, the law that guards against electioneering by federal employees.
Dellinger’s attorney, Joshua Matz, declined to comment.
Trump’s sweeping actions to reshape the federal government during his first weeks in office have sparked dozens of lawsuits, with Dellinger’s case one of five challenging Trump’s firings of Senate-confirmed officials across the federal government.
Eight agency-level inspectors general and Democratic appointees to the National Labor Relations Board, Federal Labor Relations Authority and Merit Systems Protection Board have also filed lawsuits.
The Justice Department’s Supreme Court filing comes after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the administration’s appeal Saturday evening since such temporary orders are not normally appealable.
“Until now, as far as we are aware, no court in American history has wielded an injunction to force the President to retain an agency head whom the President believes should not be entrusted with executive power and to prevent the President from relying on his preferred replacement,” the Justice Department wrote in its Supreme Court application.
