Supreme Court pauses Trump administration's effort to fire head of whistleblower protection agency
SUMMARY
administration from firing Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel. Dellinger, a Biden pick who protects federal whistleblowers, gets to stay put at least until February 26 while courts sort out the mess. Trump’s team wanted the justices to reverse a lower court’s order keeping Dellinger in his job, but the high court said, “Not yet.” Liberal Justices Sotomayor and Jackson wanted to flat-out reject the firing push, while conservatives Gorsuch and Alito grumbled that courts shouldn’t be reinstalling fired officials like this—they’d rather see backpay than reinstatement. Dellinger, canned on February 7, sued, arguing he can only be axed for poor performance, not politics. “I’m thrilled to keep doing my watchdog gig,” he said after the ruling. This is the first big legal clash to hit the Supreme Court since Trump’s second term kicked off, with dozens of lawsuits already piling up over his executive orders—think immigration, citizenship, and more.
