Head of federal watchdog agency fired by Trump should remain on the job, judge rules

A federal judge ruled Saturday that the head of a government watchdog agency whom President Donald Trump is attempting to fire is entitled to remain in the post, setting up a dispute that will almost certainly be decided by the Supreme Court.

A federal judge ruled Saturday that the head of a government watchdog agency whom President Donald Trump is attempting to fire is entitled to remain in the post, setting up a dispute that will almost certainly be decided by the Supreme Court. The ruling from US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is a win for special counsel Hampton Dellinger, who sued the Trump administration over his firing in a case that has already gone to the Supreme Court once before. The latest decision removes some of the technical legal issues that complicated earlier appeals by the Department of Justice. “The special counsel’s job is to look into and expose unethical or unlawful practices directed at federal civil servants, and to help ensure that whistleblowers who disclose fraud, waste, and abuse on the part of government agencies can do so without suffering reprisals,” Jackson wrote. “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.” Ruling otherwise, she said, would offer the president “a constitutional license to bully officials in the executive branch into doing his will.” The Trump administration is appealing the decision. Dellinger’s case may ultimately help to decide how much power Trump has to fire the leadership at independent agencies, many of whom are protected with federal laws that bar their dismissal absent neglect of duty or malfeasance. But until now, most of the legal wrangling has focused on procedural issues, such as whether certain temporary court orders can be appealed.