The Office of #SpecialCounsel investigates #whistleblower complaints & protects #GovernmentEmployees from #mistreatment in the federal workplace.

#Dellinger, a Senate-confirmed appointee of President #Biden, was fired in a short email from the #Trump WH in Feb. He sued the admin to stop his ouster, saying it violated a #law barring the president from removing him except for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” His 5-year term was supposed to last until 2029.

“It would be ironic, to say the least, & inimical to the ends furthered by the #statute if the #SpecialCounsel himself could be chilled in his work by fear of arbitrary or #partisan removal,” the judge added.

Dellinger said in an emailed statement that he was grateful to see the court “confirm the importance & legality of the job protections #Congress afforded my position.”

Judge #AmyBermanJackson disagreed, saying in her ruling that the #statute “must stand.” Eliminating the restrictions on Dellinger’s removal, she wrote, “would be fatal to the defining & essential feature of the Office of #SpecialCounsel as it was conceived by #Congress & signed into #law by the President: its #independence.”

Dellinger’s 5-yr term was set to end in 2029.

Lawyers for the #Trump admin argued that Trump has the power to remove Dellinger without cause, saying a 1978 statute passed by Congress in the post-Watergate era that restricts the ability to fire the head of the Office of #SpecialCounsel is unconstitutional.

#law #NationalSecurity #authoritarianism #autocracy #democracy #SeparationOfPowers

The Office of #SpecialCounsel is unrelated to the special counsels appointed by the #DOJ to handle cases in which the dept faces a potential conflict of interest.

Dellinger, a Senate-confirmed appointee of Pres #Biden, sued the #Trump admin after he received a email in Feb firing him from his role w/o cause. He alleged in court docs that his termination violated a #law that says the president can remove the special counsel only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

US Dist Judge #AmyBermanJackson’s ruling blocks the removal of #HamptonDellinger as head of the Office of #SpecialCounsel, which investigates #whistleblower reports filed by #GovernmentWorkers & protects #FederalEmployees from #retaliation, political #coercion & other practices that are barred in the fed workplace.

The #Trump admin has indicated in court filings that it would appeal any such ruling to #SCOTUS, which on Feb 21 declined to intervene until the litigation proceeded further.

It will remain in effect through April 10 so that the Office of #SpecialCounsel can continue investigating the complaints. The 6 employees come from 6 different #FederalAgencies.

“I find that there are reasonable grounds to believe that each of the 6 agencies engaged in a prohibited personnel practice,” Raymond A. Limon, a member of the board, wrote in his order.

The decision ultimately could apply more broadly to thousands of other #FederalWorkers.

A government #watchdog lawyer whose dismissal by #Trump has been stalled by the courts announced on Monday that his office would seek to pause the mass #firings of some probationary #FederalWorkers.

The lawyer, Hampton Dellinger, who leads the Office of #SpecialCounsel, a government agency that protects #WhistleBlowers, said his office had determined that the firings might violate the #law.

#law #labor #Musk #DOGE #chaos #USpol
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/us/politics/special-counsel-fired-federal-workers.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&sgrp=p&pvid=85169D7B-0680-4A58-AC03-1450A9607439

The order appeared limited to the 6 #FederalWorkers in the case, but offered a measure of hope for thousands of government workers seeking to be reinstated. Lawyers for the workers said in a statement that they would now work to expand the order “to cover all probationary federal employees who were unlawfully terminated.” The #Merit Systems Protection Board ordered that the employees be reinstated for 45 days while the Office of #SpecialCounsel investigates their cases.

In the first case to reach #SCOTUS arising from the blitz of actions taken in the early weeks of the new admin, lawyers for #Trump asked the justices on Sunday to let him fire a govt lawyer who leads a #watchdog agency.

The admin’s emergency application asked the #SupremeCourt to vacate a federal trial judge’s order temporarily reinstating Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of #SpecialCounsel.

One lawsuit, filed by 9 #FBI agents who had worked on #Jan6 cases or #SpecialCounsel #JackSmith’s 2 #criminal investigations of #Trump, asked the court to grant them #ClassAction status to represent all affected agents nationwide & warned that any public release of agents’ names would expose them & their families to #retribution.

In one memo, #PamBondi will establish a “Weaponization Working Group” to review #law enforcement actions enacted under the Biden admin for any examples of “politicized justice.”

That review will cover cases brought by fmr #SpecialCounsel #JackSmith over #Trump’s mishandling of #ClassifiedDocuments & 2020 #ElectionInterference, Manhattan DA #AlvinBragg’s hush-money case that led to a #conviction & a case from NYAG #LetitiaJames, in which she won a $454M civil #fraud judgment against Trump.