DENIED: Trump Emergency Appeal To Fire Watchdog Immediately Rejected In Unsigned Supreme Court Order

The Supreme Court has denied an emergency appeal by President Donald Trump seeking to immediately fire Office of Special Counsel chief Hampton Dellinger, granting the watchdog at least a few more days on the job.

Trump fired Dellinger — whose agency is responsible for protecting government whistleblowers — two weeks ago in a blunt email, but was quickly ordered to be reinstated by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson when Dellinger sued.

On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled on Trump’s motion to vacate Judge Jackson’s order, releasing an unsigned order upholding Berman’s Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) on the basis that it is set to expire in a matter of days:

Pending before this Court is the Government’s application to vacate the TRO. Dellinger has filed a Response in Opposition. The Government then filed a reply. The question is thus fully briefed before this Court.

Although it acknowledges that this Court typically does not have appellate jurisdiction over TROs, the Government urges us to construe the TRO as a preliminary injunction or to exercise jurisdiction under the All Writs Act in light of the core executive power assertedly restrained. Application 31–32; see 28 U. S. C. §1292(a)(1). In his opposition, Dellinger repeatedly notes that the TRO will “expire by its terms [in] eight [now five] days,” Response in Opposition 1, that it “lasts only for a very short duration,” id., at 15, and that it “is set to expire on February 26,” id., at 39. In light of the foregoing, the application to vacate the order of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is held in abeyance until February 26, when the TRO is set to expire.

JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and JUSTICE JACKSON would deny the application.

The unsigned order states that Justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissented.