CNN
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President Donald Trump asks the Supreme Court to allow the head of the government’s ethics watchdog agency to be fired on the first term appeal from the second term of his case.
At the heart of the appeal is Hampton Dillinger, who heads the Special Advisory Office, and is enacted by Congress, which requires the administration to show the cause before dismissing anyone from the post before the end of his five-year term. Despite the protections, Trump was fired this month.
The U.S. District Court temporarily blocked Dellinger’s firing while considering his case, and late Saturday the U.S. Circuit D.C. Court of Appeals refused to dismiss the decision. The Justice Department prepared an appeal to the Supreme Court within hours of its decision.
According to a copy of the appeal obtained by CNN, the Department of Justice described the district court’s ruling as “an unprecedented attack on separation of powers.”
“To date, as far as we know, the courts of American history have held the president responsible for enforcing the head of an agency that the president believes should not be entrusted with executive power, and he It has not exercised an injunction to prevent it from relying on its preferences, the administration has argued in its appeal.
On the one hand, cases are extremely important. The first appeal is what it is likely to be that it will reach the High Court, challenging the whirlwind of Trump’s enforcement actions, as he sought to unite administrative powers during the opening week of his second term. In other contexts, some conservative Supreme Court justice suggests that they may support Trump’s broader goal of managing executive employees more strongly.
However, on the other hand, the preliminary attitude in the case is a major challenge for the Department of Justice. Temporary restraint orders, such as those issued in this case, generally do not appeal. They are usually introduced at most weeks to give lower courts time to consider the legal arguments presented by both parties.
Even if the Supreme Court rejects the Trump administration at this stage, the court will almost certainly have another crack in a few months. At the very least, it is possible for some judiciaries to write short opinions explaining their positions on the broader merit questions that are problematic in Dellinger’s case. Either way, the Supreme Court could move relatively quickly on emergency appeals and could provide indications as to how it will handle the request earlier this week.
The Special Advisors Office, unlike the Special Advisors appointed to oversee politically sensitive Department of Justice investigations, is an independent agency created by Congress that handles allegations of retaliation by whistleblowers.
In a 2-1 decision on Saturday night, the U.S. Court of Appeals DC Circuit said a temporary order that allowed DELLINGER to temporarily stay in the post would not appeal. Considering such an order, the court said it would “contradict the unwiseness of administering legal standards.”
Allowing temporary restraining orders to stay, the court would set a “problemous precedent. The party’s naked claims of “extraordinary harm” for 14 days can make TRO attractive If we accept this proposition, many litigants covered by TroS would be encouraged to appeal to them and seek a stay. ”
Two Biden appointees, Circuit J. Michelle Childs and Florence Pan, voted to reject the Trump administration’s request for stay. US Circuit Judge Gregory Cassas said he was a Trump candidate and granted the government’s request.
The Dellinger lawsuit is one of at least three cases brought by officials fired by Trump, testing the president’s power to oust heads of independent agencies.
The lawsuit relies in part on Humphrey’s Enforcer vs. the US, a Supreme Court precedent of 1935, which allows Congress to include cause protection for members of independent Federal Agency Commissions. I did. Some conservative justices have expressed uncertainty over recent decisions, and the Justice Department under Trump says it believes protections are unconstitutional.
This heading and story has been updated with new developments.
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz and Tierney Sneed contributed to this report.
