Trump seeks SCOTUS help to fire Office of Special Counsel head

• The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in one of its recent firings. It wants the high court to rule that President Donald Trump has the right to fire the head of the Office of Special Counsel.
• A lower court ordered the reinstatement of Hampton Dellinger, the fired executive, while the legal process played out. He claimed the administration fired him without cause.
• The Supreme Court does not yet have this case on its docket.

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The Trump administration hopes the U.S. Supreme Court will step in to overturn a lower court ruling regarding the recent firing of an executive branch official. The termination and reinstatement of Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, is at issue.

How did this legal tug-of-war begin?

The Trump administration fired Dellinger, a Biden administration appointee, earlier this month amid the ongoing purge of federal employees to cut spending and reduce the government workforce.

Dellinger sued to regain his job, citing a federal statute protecting leaders of independent agencies from politically motivated terminations. A U.S. District Court Judge ordered Dellinger’s reinstatement during the ongoing legal proceedings.

What’s the latest in this case?

Over the weekend, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., rejected the Trump administration’s request to overturn the district judge’s order.

In response, the Trump administration asked for the Supreme Court to intervene. The Justice Department asked the nation’s highest court to keep Dellinger off the job as the legal process played out.

The Justice Department argued the district court’s action limits President Donald Trump’s ability to manage the executive branch of the government, harms his presidency and intrudes upon his constitutional powers.

For his part, Dellinger claimed the administration fired him without cause and that it made no attempt to comply with the Special Counsel’s for-cause removal protection.

The Office of Special Counsel oversees federal whistleblower laws and investigates violations of the Hatch Act, which is the primary law limiting political activity by federal employees.

What happens next?

As of now, this case has not appeared on the Supreme Court’s docket.