Judge extends halt on Trump firing whistleblower agency head

Erik Larson, Bloomberg News on Feb 26, 2025

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge extended a temporary order blocking President Donald Trump from firing the head of an independent U.S. agency that protects government whistleblowers, even as the White House aims to get the case on a fast-track to the Supreme Court.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on Wednesday extended a temporary restraining order to block the firing of Hampton Dellinger, who leads the Office of Special Counsel, through March 1. The so-called TRO was set to expire at midnight, and Jackson is still working on a final decision in the case.

Jackson said the case is in a “very unusual posture” because Trump has already asked the Supreme Court to lift her earlier order. The Supreme Court last week deferred acting on Trump’s request but didn’t reject it outright.

The Trump administration’s top courtroom lawyer, acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris, told the Supreme Court late Wednesday that the extension helped underscore the need for the justices to intervene. She pointed to Dellinger’s move this week to block the firing of six government workers.

“The harms to the executive branch from the district court’s TRO have become even more concrete,” Harris said.

During a hearing Wednesday, Jackson asked a Justice Department lawyer why a president should be permitted to fire the head of the whistleblower agency without cause, given that the position was created by Congress specifically to prevent that from happening and therefore ensure accountability and independence.

The judge said that if the position is “unsatisfactory to the current president, isn’t the remedy to marshal congressional support to change it as opposed to disregard it?”

The judge issued her earlier order after ruling that Dellinger’s firing “plainly” went against US law. The Trump administration didn’t provide any reason for his firing, she said, even though the law requires that the person in that position could only be removed “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”

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(With assistance from Greg Stohr.)