On Thursday, March 6th, 2025, Former Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger released a statement announcing his decision to drop his lawsuit over his termination by White House officials. Dellinger’s concession follows a decision by a federal appeals court Wednesday evening to remove Dellinger from his position as Special Counsel while his lawsuit proceeds through the appeals process to the Supreme Court. In his statement, Dellinger explained that “given the circuit court’s adverse ruling, [Dellinger thinks his] odds of ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court are long.”
Until Wednesday evening, Dellinger’s suit to fight his abrupt termination remained promising. The prior weekend, Judge Amy Berman Jackson had granted Dellinger a preliminary injunction, allowing him to resume his role at the Office of Special Counsel. Wednesday day, Six whistleblower advocacy organizations, including the National Whistleblower Center and the Government Accountability Project, banded together to file an amicus curiae brief to the Court of Appeals, arguing that Dellinger’s termination threatened the political independence of the Office of Special Counsel, which is integral to the Office’s rooting out of federal fraud, waste, and abuse of power. The Appeals Court decision upended hope for Dellinger’s reinstatement. It indicated that a future appeal to the Supreme Court may end in a victory for the White House.
Regarding the Appeals Court decision, Dellinger stated: “I think the circuit judges erred badly because their willingness to sign off on my ouster — even if presented as possibly temporary — immediately erases the independence Congress provided for my position, a vital protection that has been accepted as lawful for nearly fifty years.”
Dellinger was ousted by the appeals court the day before his one-year anniversary as head of the Office. He remarked: “Today would have marked my one-year anniversary as head of the Office of Special Counsel. For the rest of my life, I will regret that I could not make it to the milestone. I tried.”
Stephen M. Kohn, co-founder and Board Chairman of the National Whistleblower Center, remarked: “This is a setback for all federal employees, taxpayers, and the public interest. Our research of the law demonstrated that terminating the Special Counsel was illegal. We respect Mr. Dellinger’s decision, but the National Whistleblower Center will continue to ensure that whistleblower offices and programs are protected from political interference.”
