Latest news with #OfficeoftheSpecialCounsel
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump Directly Asks Supreme Court to Intervene on Birthright Citizenship
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow a partial implementation of its plan to end birthright citizenship while legal battles play out. In a series of emergency filings, acting solicitor general Sarah Harris asked the Supreme Court to restrict universal injunctions issued by lower courts in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington that have blocked attempts to end birthright citizenship throughout the country. Instead, Harris argued, justices should allow the administration's plan to take effect for everyone except the parties involved in the lawsuits to block the end of birthright citizenship. 'Universal injunctions have reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current Administration,' Harris wrote. 'That sharp rise in universal injunctions stops the Executive Branch from performing its constitutional functions before any courts fully examine the merits of those actions, and threatens to swamp this Court's emergency docket.' Trump signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship on his first day back in office as part of his administration's sweeping crackdown on immigration. Judge John Coughenour in Washington, one of the three who blocked the order, described the plan as 'blatantly unconstitutional.' Judge Deborah Boardman in Maryland said it 'conflicts with the plain language of the 14th Amendment, contradicts 125-year-old binding Supreme Court precedent and runs counter to our nation's 250-year history of citizenship by birth.' The 14th amendment states that 'all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.' The administration argued in its emergency appeals that the clause should not extend to children of unauthorized migrants, who they say are not 'subject to the jurisdiction' of the U.S. government. This argument has largely been rejected by legal scholars and conflicts with Supreme Court precedent. 'That policy of near-universal birthright citizenship has created strong incentives for illegal immigration,' Harris said. 'And it has raised national-security concerns by extending U.S. citizenship to persons who lack meaningful ties to the country.' The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court several times to intervene in efforts to block its controversial moves, including the firing of the Office of the Special Counsel chief and the freeze in foreign aid funding.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Special counsel ends suit to remain in job amid battle for probationary workers
The head of the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) is ending his legal bid to remain in his post after being fired by President Trump, calling into question the future of an office that has been battling to return fired federal workers to their posts. Special counsel Hampton Dellinger's announcement comes one day after a federal appeals court panel greenlighted Dellinger's termination until they resolve the case, an indication that the court may ultimately side with the Trump administration. 'This new ruling means that OSC will be run by someone totally beholden to the President for the months that would pass before I could get a final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court,' he said. 'I think the circuit judges erred badly because their willingness to sign off on my ouster — even if presented as possibly temporary — immediately erases the independence Congress provided for my position, a vital protection that has been accepted as lawful for nearly fifty years. Until now,' Dellinger continued. Dellinger said losing the independence of the office 'could be immediate, grievous, and, I fear, uncorrectable.' His announcement takes the pressure off the Supreme Court by opting against filing an emergency appeal to the justices seeking his immediate reinstatement. Already, the high court punted the Trump administration's emergency appeal at an earlier stage of the case, but the court had not weighed in on the underlying legality of the firing. 'And given the circuit court's adverse ruling, I think my odds of ultimately prevailing before the Supreme Court are long,' Dellinger wrote. Dellinger has filed numerous complaints with the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), scoring early victories in asking it to return fired probationary employees to their jobs, arguing they were wrongfully terminated. The Trump administration ordered the firing of as many as 220,000 federal workers hired or promoted within the last year or two, a status that varies by agency. In filings before the quasi-judicial board, Dellinger had argued the Trump administration failed to follow civil service law, claiming to fire each for performance reasons without doing an individual assessment. Dellinger said the move was akin to layoffs, requiring the government to instead embark on a reduction in force. Dellinger scored two initial wins before the MSPB, which agreed to reinstate six federal workers across different agencies for 45 days as it continues to weigh the matter. Building on that action, the MSPB on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to return nearly 6,000 fired probationary workers to their jobs for 45 days. In addition to protecting federal workers from so-called prohibited personnel practices, the Office of the Special Counsel is another avenue for whistleblower reporting and is tasked with protecting them from reprisal. The office also investigates Hatch Act violations of federal workers accused of electioneering. 'Today would have marked my one-year anniversary as head of the Office of Special Counsel. For the rest of my life I will regret that I could not make it to the milestone. I tried,' Dellinger wrote in his statement. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump unlawfully fired government watchdog, federal judge rules
March 2 (UPI) -- A federal judge ruled Saturday that President Donald Trump's administration had unlawfully fired the head of a federal watchdog agency and blocked his removal from the office, court documents show. Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted a summary judgment and permanent injunction to Hampton Dellinger, the Special Counsel of the Office of the Special Counsel, in a lawsuit he filed against Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and others. The lawsuit stems from an email sent to Dellinger on February 7 by Sergio Gor, the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, who is also named in the lawsuit. "On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Special Counsel of the US Office of Special Counsel is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service," Gor wrote in the email. The Office of Special Counsel protects federal employees from whistleblower retaliation and political coercion, investigates misconduct, and enforces the Hatch Act. Its head is appointed by presidents to five-year terms. This independence is crucial because OSC holds the government accountable, exposing fraud, waste, and abuse while shielding those who report it. Without it, whistleblowers risk punishment, and misconduct could go unchecked, eroding public trust in federal agencies. Jackson called the email an "unlawful" act in violation of the federal law establishing the office, which guarantees Dellinger to a five-year term. The judge defended her reasoning in a 67-page memorandum of opinion. "There is no dispute that the statute establishing the Office of Special Counsel provides that the Special Counsel may be removed by the President only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, and that the curt email from the White House informing the Special Counsel that he was terminated contained no reasons whatsoever," Jackson wrote. Jackson vehemently defended the importance of protecting the independence of the Office of the Special Counsel, rejected the government's argument of presidential power and the assertion by the defendants that "the public would be better served by the appointment of a principal officer who holds the president's confidence." "There has been no indication here that plaintiff has been acting in a partisan or biased manner," Jackson wrote. "To the contrary, for example, his recent finding vindicating complaints by IRS agents that were retaliated against for raising concerns about the treatment of Hunter Biden during President Biden's administration spurred Senators Charles Grassley and Ron Johnson to implore President Trump to protect those individuals." Still, the Trump administration immediately moved to appeal Jackson's ruling to United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, court documents show, in a move that will likely send the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The Trump administration shot back to the court that Jackson's order that Dellinger's title and position be recognized and allowed to carry out his duties without obstruction amount to an "extraordinary intrusion into the president's authority." The defendants have requested a stay of the lower court's ruling, pending the appeal.
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Special counsel determines some probationary layoffs violate law, asks for intervention
The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) has determined that six probationary employees were improperly terminated, asking an employment body to intervene and temporarily bar the removals in a matter that could impact thousands of recently fired employees. In redacted filings now shared publicly, special counsel Hampton Dellinger said the firing of the probationary employees likely violated laws requiring that employees be removed for cause, asking the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to issue a 45-day stay blocking the terminations. Dellinger concluded that the probationary firings violate the law governing the civil service, as well as the principles underpinning the merit-based hiring system. 'These principles establish that all federal employees, including those in a probationary status, should be evaluated based on individual performance,' Dellinger said in a statement. 'If agencies wish to terminate probationary employees not for performance or conduct, but as part of a general restructuring or downsizing, they must initiate a reduction in force (RIF) and follow the relevant procedures for that process,' he added in one of the filings. 'This requirement is not a simple bureaucratic technicality — compelling agencies to assess the specific fitness of each employee prior to terminating them ensures that outstanding employees are not arbitrarily lost and that terminations are truly in the best interests of the federal service.' GovExec first obtained and reported Dellinger's determination, prompting release of documents that would normally be sealed from the public. The Office of the Special Counsel is responsible for investigating illegal actions taken against employees, including cases of whistleblower reprisal. Dellinger concluded that the probationary firings constitute a prohibited personnel practice and asked the MSPB, a quasi-judicial board, to take action, creating a process for the employees to be reinstated to their jobs. The MSPB has three days to deny the stay, or it will take effect. The Trump administration has demanded the firing of probationary employees, a group of roughly 200,000 employees who were hired up to one or two years ago, depending on the agency. Dellinger's review of the matter was first prompted a request from Democracy Forward, which asked the OSC to review 'all similarly situated probationary employees.' Their complaint has since been expanded to include employees at other federal agencies. 'Today's news from the Office of Special Counsel confirms what we have long known: the mass termination of federal workers is unlawful, and Trump's only plan here seems to be to inflict chaos and suffering on the American people and the federal workers who serve them as opposed to using our government to better the lives of working Americans, families, and communities across the country,' Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said in a statement. 'It is among the many harmful and unlawful actions being taken by this Administration without regard for impact or purpose,' Perryman said. Dellinger appears to be responding to the wider request. 'The Special Counsel believes other probationary employees are similarly situated to the six workers for whom he currently is seeking relief. Dellinger is considering ways to seek relief for a broader group without the need for individual filings with OSC,' his office said in a statement. Dellinger himself is in the midst of a battle fighting his own termination. Though special counsels are appointed to a five-year term, Dellinger was fired by Trump earlier this month. A judge has temporarily reinstated him to his post, and the Supreme Court on Friday rebuffed a Trump administration request, declining to take up an emergency appeal. And the MSPB has also seen its work impacted by Trump firings. A federal judge also reinstated MSBP Chair Cathy Harris after Trump fired her. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
24-02-2025
- Politics
- The Hill
Special counsel determines some probationary layoffs violate law, asks for intervention
The Office of the Special Counsel (OSC) has determined that six probationary employees were improperly terminated, asking an employment body to intervene and temporarily bar the removals in a matter that could impact thousands of recently fired employees. In redacted filings now shared publicly, Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger said the firing of the probationary employees likely violated laws requiring that employees be removed for cause, asking the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) to issue a 45-day stay blocking the terminations. Dellinger concluded that the probationary firings violate the law governing the civil service, as well as the principles underpinning the merit-based hiring system. 'These principles establish that all federal employees, including those in a probationary status, should be evaluated based on individual performance,' Dellinger said in a statement. 'If agencies wish to terminate probationary employees not for performance or conduct, but as part of a general restructuring or downsizing, they must initiate a reduction in force (RIF) and follow the relevant procedures for that process,' he added in one of the filings. 'This requirement is not a simple bureaucratic technicality — compelling agencies to assess the specific fitness of each employee prior to terminating them ensures that outstanding employees are not arbitrarily lost and that terminations are truly in the best interests of the federal service.' GovExec first obtained and reported Dellinger's determination, prompting release of documents that would normally be sealed from the public. The Office of the Special Counsel is responsible for investigating illegal actions taken against employees, including cases of whistleblower reprisal. Dellinger concluded that the probationary firings constitute a prohibited personnel practice and asked the MSPB, a quasi-judicial board, to take action, creating a process for the employees to be reinstated to their jobs. The MSPB has three days to deny the stay or it will take effect. The Trump administration has demanded the firing of probationary employees, a group of roughly 200,000 employees who were hired up to one or two years ago, depending on the agency. Dellinger's review of the matter was first prompted a request from Democracy Forward, which asked the OSC to review 'all similarly situated probationary employees.' Their complaint has since been expanded to include employees at other federal agencies. 'Today's news from the Office of Special Counsel confirms what we have long known: the mass termination of federal workers is unlawful, and Trump's only plan here seems to be to inflict chaos and suffering on the American people and the federal workers who serve them as opposed to using our government to better the lives of working Americans, families, and communities across the country,' Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said in a statement. 'It is among the many harmful and unlawful actions being taken by this Administration without regard for impact or purpose,' said Perryman. Dellinger appears to be responding to the wider request. 'The Special Counsel believes other probationary employees are similarly situated to the six workers for whom he currently is seeking relief. Dellinger is considering ways to seek relief for a broader group without the need for individual filings with OSC,' his office said in a statement. Dellinger himself is in the midst of a battle fighting his own termination. Though special counsels are appointed to a five-year term, Dellinger was fired by Trump earlier this month. A judge has temporarily reinstated him to his post, and the Supreme Court on Friday rebuffed a Trump administration request, declining to take up an emergency appeal.
