A federal district judge in Washington, D.C., ruled late Saturday that President Donald Trump’s dismissal of the head of the Office of Special Counsel was unlawful, allowing him to remain in his position.
The Trump administration promptly filed a notice of appeal, Fox News reported, likely anticipating that the Obama appointee would rule against the administration.
Hampton Dellinger, appointed by former President Joe Biden to lead the Office of Special Counsel, sued the Trump administration in federal court following his dismissal on February 7. In her ruling, D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson stated that the decision to deem Dellinger’s firing “unlawful” aligns with Supreme Court precedent.
Jackson wrote that the court “finds that the elimination of the restrictions on plaintiff’s removal would be fatal to the defining and essential feature of the Office of Special Counsel as it was conceived by Congress and signed into law by the President: its independence. The Court concludes that they must stand.”
Jackson issued an injunction against the defendants in the case, including Russ Vought, Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, directing them to recognize Dellinger’s position.
However, Jackson did not issue an enjoin Trump in her ruling, Fox added.
“It would be ironic, to say the least, and inimical to the ends furthered by the statute if the Special Counsel himself could be chilled in his work by fear of arbitrary or partisan removal,” Jackson wrote.
Jackson noted in her order that the enjoined defendants “must not obstruct or interfere with his performance of his duties; they must not deny him the authority, benefits, or resources of his office; they must not recognize any Acting Special Counsel in his place; and they must not treat him in any way as if he has been removed, or recognize any other person as Special Counsel or as the head of the Office of Special Counsel, unless and until he is removed from office” in accordance with the statute defining Dellinger’s post.
Jackson’s ruling follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to halt the Trump administration’s attempt to remove Dellinger. The administration had sought to overturn a lower court’s temporary reinstatement of Dellinger.
The dispute marked the first legal challenge of Trump’s second term to reach the Supreme Court. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissented, arguing that the lower court had overstepped its authority and questioning whether courts have the power to reinstate an official dismissed by the president.
While noting that some officials appointed by the president have also contested being removed, Gorsuch wrote in his opinion that “those officials have generally sought remedies like backpay, not injunctive relief like reinstatement.”
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson notably voted to reject the administration’s request to approve the firing outright.
Following the Supreme Court’s decision to pause Trump’s efforts, Jackson suggested she might extend the temporary restraining order that has kept Dellinger in his position. She called the matter “an extraordinarily difficult constitutional issue” during a hearing.
“I am glad to be able to continue my work as an independent government watchdog and whistleblower advocate,” Dellinger said in a statement following the high court ruling. “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.”
Dellinger has argued that, under the law, he can only be removed from his position for job performance issues, which were not mentioned in the email notifying him of his dismissal, Fox reported.