Federal appeals court queues up first test of Trump’s power for Supreme Court

A federal appeals court in Washington on Saturday allowed the head of a government ethics watchdog agency whom President Donald Trump fired last week to stay on the job, a decision that will likely tee up the fight over similar dismissals for the Supreme Court.

A federal appeals court on Saturday allowed the head of a government ethics watchdog agency, whom President Donald Trump fired last week, to stay on the job. It’s a decision that will likely tee up the fight over similar dismissals for the Supreme Court. The appeals court decision let stand a restraining order that permits Hampton Dellinger to temporarily remain in his post as special counsel. Dellinger, who was serving a five-year term, was appointed by President Joe Biden. The Office of Special Counsel — which is distinct from the special counsels appointed to oversee politically sensitive Justice Department investigations — handles allegations of whistleblower retaliation and is an independent agency created by Congress. In a 2-1 decision, the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit said the temporary order in Dellinger’s favor was not appealable. Reviewing such order, the court said, “would be inconsistent with governing legal standards and ill-advised.” Granting a stay of a temporary restraining order, the court ruled, “would set a problematic precedent. If we were to accept the proposition that a party’s bare assertion of ‘extraordinary harm’ for fourteen days can render a TRO appealable, many litigants subject to TROs would be encouraged to appeal them and to seek a stay.” Two Biden appointees, Circuit Judges J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan, voted to dismiss the Trump administration’s request for a stay. US Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, a Trump nominee, said he would have granted the government’s request.