Federal judge hints she will continue blocking Trump from firing head of whistleblower protection agency

A federal judge hinted Wednesday that she may extend a temporary restraining order which has kept Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel, in his job after President Donald Trump announced his termination earlier this month.

U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson called the matter ‘an extraordinarily difficult constitutional issue’ during a Wednesday hearing before telling lawyers for Dellinger and the government that she will take the matter under advisement. Jackson issued the temporary restraining order 14 days ago, meaning she must act by Wednesday evening to extend the order.

Earlier this month, liberal Supreme Court justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson voted to outright deny the administration’s request to approve the firing.

Conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Samuel Alito dissented, saying the lower court overstepped. They also cast doubt on whether courts have the authority to restore to office someone the president has fired. While acknowledging that some officials appointed by the president have contested their removal, Gorsuch wrote in his opinion that ‘those officials have generally sought remedies like backpay, not injunctive relief like reinstatement.’ 

The dispute over Dellinger is the first legal challenge to reach the Supreme Court after several firings under the Trump administration.

Dellinger sued the Trump administration in Washington, D.C., federal court after his Feb. 7 firing.

‘I am glad to be able to continue my work as an independent government watchdog and whistleblower advocate,’ Dellinger said in a statement after Friday’s proceedings. ‘I am grateful to the judges and justices who have concluded that I should be allowed to remain on the job while the courts decide whether my office can retain a measure of independence from direct partisan and political control.’

He has argued that, by law, he can only be dismissed from his position for job performance problems, which were not cited in an email dismissing him from his post.

Trump began his second term in the White House with a flurry of executive orders and directives that have since been targeted by a flood of legal challenges.

Since Jan. 20, dozens of lawsuits have been filed over the administration’s actions, including the president’s birthright citizenship order, immigration policies, federal funding freezes, federal employee buyouts, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and legal action against FBI and DOJ employees.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.