As we wrote just over a week ago, the United States Supreme Court decided to take a pass on ruling on President Donald Trump’s firing of Hampton Dellinger, who until recently ran the Office of Special Counsel.

That move came after District of Columbia Circuit Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the administration to reinstate Dellinger on Feb. 12, a decision that Trump’s legal team swiftly appealed: 

On February 7, President Trump fired Democrat apparatchik Hampton Dellinger along with most of the remaining agency inspectors general. Dellinger sued for reinstatement. By statute, he is appointed for a five-year term and can only be removed by the president for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” The case went to Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who ordered Dellinger reinstated.

As my colleague Streiff wrote about the SCOTUS punt:

The US Supreme Court put off ruling on the case of fired Special Counsel, the improbably named Hampton Dellinger. In a ruling with dissents by four justices, the Supreme Court agreed to put off ruling on the government’s appeal of the order reinstating Dellinger until the DC Circuit issues its ruling on Wednesday. “In light of the foregoing,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the majority, “the application to vacate the order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is held in abeyance until February 26, when the TRO is set to expire.”

The backstory is that President Trump fired Dellinger from his perch as head of the Office of Special Counsel. He is the sole proprietor of that office and is protected from dismissal by law except in cases of “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” Dellinger sued. The trial judge issued a temporary restraining order reinstating him. The government appealed to the DC Circuit. The DC Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, but with a strongly worded dissent, upheld the TRO. The government fired off a blistering appeal to the Supreme Court.

Streiff added that “[t]he bottom line here is that SCOTUS is giving the DC Circuit the chance to make a ruling before moving ahead.” 

BACKGROUND:

Supreme Court Punts on Trump Firing Legally Protected Official

Trump Sends Scorching Appeal of DC Court Order Reinstating Biden Appointee to the Supreme Court

On Saturday night, the same D.C. District judge ruled that, as a legally protected official, Hampton Dellinger cannot be removed from the OSC position by the Trump administration:

D.C. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson wrote in the Saturday filing that the court’s ruling that Dellinger’s firing was “unlawful” is consistent with Supreme Court precedent. 

..

Jackson wrote that the court “finds that the elimination of the restrictions on plaintiff’s removal would be fatal to the defining and essential feature of the Office of Special Counsel as it was conceived by Congress and signed into law by the President:  its independence.  The Court concludes that they must stand.”

Jackson enjoined the defendants in the suit, including Director of the United States Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, ordering them to recognize Dellinger’s post. Jackson did not enjoin Trump. 

The ruling continued, “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.”

The case has already been appealed by the Trump administration to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

As Streiff wrote about another case on Feb. 19 (see ), this is starting to look like something of a pattern, but the case’s journey isn’t over yet.

This is a developing story. RedState will provide further updates as they become available.