Late on February 12, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking President Trump’s firing of Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger, who as the head of Office of Special Counsel (OSC) oversees the agency responsible for protecting federal employee whistleblowers and investigating their concerns.
Dellinger was terminated by the White House late on February 7. He sued to stop the firing, arguing that under the law, the Special Counsel “may be removed by the President only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” In its brief email alerting Dellinger to his firing, the White House did not cite any of these issues.
“The effort by the White House to terminate the Special Counsel without identifying any cause
plainly contravenes the statute,” wrote U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Wednesday’s order. “This language expresses Congress’s clear intent to ensure the independence of the Special Counsel and insulate his work from being buffeted by the winds of political change.”
Earlier on February 12, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit denied the administration’s attempts to appeal the initial temporary pause placed on Dellinger’s firing by Judge Jackson earlier in the week.
“I am grateful that today’s two court rulings from trial and appellate judges allow me to continue my work as Special Counsel,” Dellinger said in a statement.
National Whistleblower Center (NWC) is celebrating the judge’s ruling as a victory for accountability. NWC Chairman of the Board Stephen M. Kohn previously described the action as “irresponsible and dangerous” and warned that it “undermines a critical government program that has saved taxpayers billions of dollars and is designed to encourage reporting of waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
National Whistleblower Center has launched an emergency campaign in response to the
wrongful termination of Special Counsel Dellinger. They are urging supporters to join them and to contact their Representatives and Senators immediately and express their concern on the issue.
