{"id":2410313,"date":"2025-03-05T21:39:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dc-appeals-court-allows-trump-to-fire-federal-watchdog-for-now-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-03-05T21:42:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T02:42:26","slug":"dc-appeals-court-allows-trump-to-fire-federal-watchdog-for-now-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dc-appeals-court-allows-trump-to-fire-federal-watchdog-for-now-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"DC appeals court allows Trump to fire federal watchdog \u2014 for now &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdc-appeals-court-allows-trump-to-fire-federal-watchdog-for-now-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2410313&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A recent decision by a U.S. appeals court allows the Trump \u200badministration to temporarily fire Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/appeals-court-upholds-jan-6-trespassing-charge-boosts-chances-for-supreme-court-review-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"... upholds Jan. 6 trespassing charge, boosts chances for ... review - Washington Examiner\">amid ongoing legal challenges<\/a>.This ruling is\u200d viewed as a\u2062 small\u200d victory for President trump, who is \u200dmaking moves to exert control over \u2062independent agencies within the \u2064executive branch. \u200dThe\u2063 three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court, which \u2062includes appointees \u200cfrom both Democratic and Republican presidents, determined that the administration met the criteria for a stay of Dellinger\u2019s \u2064appointment while his lawsuit against the White \u200cHouse\u200d proceeds.<\/p>\n<p>Dellinger claims his termination was unlawful,as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/exclusive-failed-biden-nominee-sought-44k-in-relocation-expenses-for-home-he-wasnt-living-at\/\" title=\"EXCLUSIVE: Failed Biden Nominee Sought K In Relocation Expenses For Home He Wasn\u2019t Living At\">federal regulations require<\/a> that special counsels \u2062can only be removed \u200bfor specific reasons\u2064 such as inefficiency \u200dor malfeasance. Dellinger, \u200cwho is responsible for overseeing complaints related to retaliation against government employees, argues that\u2064 his role is crucial given the number of federal \u200bworkers \u200creportedly \u2064wrongfully terminated under Trump&#8217;s administration. <\/p>\n<p>The\u2063 court has set a schedule for \u200bfurther briefings and\u200d oral arguments, indicating that Dellinger\u2019s removal will be in effect \u200cfor several weeks as the case unfolds. This raises questions about the president&#8217;s authority over independent agencies, as tensions continue\u2063 to\u2063 mount surrounding \u2062the legality of such firings.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">DC appeals court allows Trump to fire federal watchdog &mdash; for now<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1990240\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>An appeals court decided the Trump administration could fire the head of the Office of Special Counsel, granting a small victory to President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Donald Trump<\/a> as he takes aggressive <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3318610\/trump-executive-strategy-tests-presidential-powers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">measures<\/a> to bring independent agencies in the executive branch under his purview.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/69697129\/01208717085\/hampton-dellinger-v-scott-bessent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">order<\/a> by the three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit gives the Trump administration a temporary ability to remove Hampton Dellinger from his special counsel post while his lawsuit plays out. The panel of judges comprised a Biden, Trump, and H.W. Bush appointee.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3338555\/judge-new-york-city-cannot-stop-trump-clawback-migrant-hotels\/\">New York City can&#8217;t stop Trump&#8217;s clawback of $80M for migrant hotels: Judge<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3338459\/trump-lawyer-todd-blanche-confirmed-deputy-attorney-general-doj\/\">Trump lawyer Todd Blanche confirmed as No. 2 leader at DOJ<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3338191\/judge-denies-musk-bid-to-block-openai-from-for-profit-conversion\/\">Federal judge denies Musk&#8217;s bid to block OpenAI from for-profit conversion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;This order gives effect to the removal of appellee from his position as Special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel,&rdquo; the panel wrote. &ldquo;Appellants have satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending appeal.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The appellate court set a briefing schedule that stretches into mid-April and noted oral arguments will take place soon thereafter, meaning Dellinger will be out of the job for several weeks or longer.<\/p>\n<p>Dellinger sued Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, and other administration officials last month, saying he received a one-sentence job termination email from the White House in violation of federal law, which states that firings outside of the five-year terms of special counsels must be only &ldquo;for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Office of Special Counsel is typically tasked with vetting complaints from government employees about retaliation from their bosses or about Hatch Act violations. Dellinger has also been advocating, at times <a href=\"https:\/\/osc.gov\/News\/Pages\/Press%20Release%20Template3.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">successfully<\/a>, to reinstate thousands of probationary employees fired under Trump.<\/p>\n<p>In his lawsuit, Dellinger&rsquo;s attorneys&nbsp;argued the special counsel&rsquo;s job was more critical than ever because of an &ldquo;unprecedented number of federal employees&rdquo; who have also been allegedly wrongfully terminated by Trump, including a slate of other independent watchdogs and career workers.<\/p>\n<p>Many of those firings have prompted lawsuits parallel to Dellinger&rsquo;s that challenge the legality of Trump bypassing language in statutes, including provisions that protect employees at independent agencies from politicized or arbitrary firings.<\/p>\n<p>Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled last week in Dellinger&rsquo;s favor, saying Trump does not have constitutional authority to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-bidens-homeland-security-chief-is-on-vacation-while-illegal-immigrant-invasion-continues-unabated\/\" title=\"Report: Biden\u2019s Homeland Security Chief Is On Vacation While Illegal Immigrant Invasion Continues Unabated\">flout federal law<\/a> and fire him without cause.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Office of Special Counsel is not assigned responsibilities that include furthering the administration&rsquo;s agenda,&rdquo; Jackson wrote in her ruling.<\/p>\n<p>Trump administration attorneys have argued in the case that Supreme Court precedent is on their side. Their perspective is likely to land once again in front of the high court in the wake of the new lawsuits surrounding firings of independent agency heads and mass firings of other federal workers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3324393\/trump-tests-executive-power-stripping-agency-independence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>TRUMP TESTS EXECUTIVE POWERS WITH ORDER STRIPPING AGENCY INDEPENDENCE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Because OSC is an executive branch agency that <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">exercises quintessentially executive functions<\/a>, the President&rsquo;s actions were consistent with recent Supreme Court precedent,&rdquo; the attorneys wrote in court filings.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump administration initially attempted to expedite Dellinger&rsquo;s case by asking the Supreme Court to intervene in it, but the high court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/supreme-court\/3324012\/supreme-court-pause-trump-bid-fire-watchdog-head\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declined<\/a> to weigh in right away.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1990240\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1990240\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DC court permits Trump to dismiss federal watchdog temporarily<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":2410314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AP24214674291537.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[51614,51615,32546,3634,32076],"class_list":["post-2410313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dc-appeals-court","tag-federal-watchdog","tag-legal-decision","tag-trump","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AP24214674291537.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2410313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2410313"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2410313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2410317,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2410313\/revisions\/2410317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2410314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2410313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2410313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2410313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}