February 21, 2025
For the first time in President Trump’s second term, the United States Supreme Court has issued a ruling in one of his cases. And they – at least for now – decided not to decide – which means for now – the court sided against Trump. But this is not over by any means.
So let me explain what’s going on. Today – the court issued this unsigned order in the case called Bessent v Dellinger. Bessent is Scott Bessent – the new Secretary of the Treasury Department and Dellinger is Hampton Dellinger – the special counsel for the office of special counsel. Dellinger is not like a Jack Smith special counsel, I know it’s confusing because of the name. But Dellinger is the head of an independent federal agency that investigates whistleblower claims. He was confirmed by the senate to his post. Well – those watchdogs who work for that independent special counsel office have a law that protects them and their employment. The law – which was passed during the carter administration says they can only be removed “by the president only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Well, the Trump administration fired Dellinger in the midst of all those doge spending cuts via email and did not cite any of those reasons for his termination.
Dellinger sued. A federal judge in the Washington DC district court issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration. The judge in that court said whoa wait a minute here – we need to look at this particular firing because of the special law that protects these government employees. And while this case plays out Dellinger can stay on the job. The district court issued that TRO through next week — February 26 – which is the same day the court plans to hold a hearing on whether to issue a more permanent preliminary injunction against the Trump administration.
The Trump administration did not like that TRO. They believe they have every right to fire Dellinger for any reason they want right now. So they appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Even the court in its order today said that was highly unusual – but in this case they decided – not to side with Trump. The supreme court said they want to wait and see what happens during that February 26th hearing before they do anything.
So that means – Dellinger can stay on the job at least until February 26th. The trump administration cannot fire him – at least for now. And the Supreme Court is in a holding pattern until the federal court in DC rules. Once that happens – the party that loses will obviously then appeal to the appeals court or the supreme court again and we’ll have to see what they do at that point.
But we did get a hint at how the justices are feeling about this. In today’s order, while it is unsigned, four justices did make their feelings known. Justices Sotomayor and Jackson say they would ultimately side with Dellinger. And justices Gorsuch and Alito said they would side with the trump administration and they do not agree with today’s non-action.
Read the Supreme Court ruling here.
