Donald Trump’s administration is asking the Supreme Court for permission to fire an ethics chief as the president and Elon Musk move quickly to gut the federal workforce, including agency officials and watchdogs.
The top official at the independent U.S. agency that protects government whistleblowers and enforces ethics rules sued the administration this month after he received an email from the president simply stating that his role is “terminated, effective immediately.”
A lawsuit from Hampton Dellinger, who leads the Office of Special Counsel, is one of at least three legal challenges from government officials testing the president’s authority to oust the heads of independent agencies.
Dellinger’s case at the Supreme Court could serve as an early test of the new administration’s authority as the president and Musk signal their willingness to obliterate checks and balances and reject court orders that don’t align with their agenda.
On Saturday, a three-judge panel at a Washington, D.C.-based federal appeals court voted 2-1 to reject Trump’s request to override a court order that blocked him from firing Dellinger, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden.
“I can and am continuing with my work as Special Counsel, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so,” Dellinger said in a statement following the ruling.
Two appeals court judges wrote that lifting a restraining order that blocks Trump would lead to a “deluge” of similar requests in other cases.
On Sunday, acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris appealed to the Supreme Court.
“This Court should not allow lower courts to seize executive power by dictating to the President how long he must continue employing an agency head against his will,” the filing states.
A flood of lawsuits has responded to Trump’s mass purges, agency shutdowns and attempts to block federal funding, as well as other executive actions targeting transgender Americans and birthright citizenship.
The administration’s request to the Supreme Court arrived one day after Trump wrote what appeared to be a declaration that he does not believe he can break any law.
“He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” the president wrote on Truth Social and X.
Last week, Trump said he will “always abide by the courts” but suggested that a series of judicial decisions blocking his agenda derailed his “momentum.”
“Well, I always abide by the courts, and then I’ll have to appeal it. But then what he’s done is he’s slowed down the momentum, and it gives crooked people more time to cover up the books,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Tuesday.
“So yeah, the answer is, I always abide by the courts, always abide by them, and we’ll appeal, but appeals take a long time,” he added.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters this week that the administration “will comply with these orders but it is also the administration's position that we will ultimately be vindicated.”
Musk, meanwhile, has been leading daily attacks against the judiciary, smearing judges as “evil” and “corrupt” and rallying Trump allies to try to impeach them for issuing injunctions against the administration.
