A federal official who was in charge of overseeing whistleblower complaints against the government and enforcing laws meant to tamp down on undue political influence sued President Donald Trump on Monday, arguing that his firing was unlawful.
Special counsel Hampton Dellinger was fired via email last week, according to Politico, which first reported the sudden ouster. Dellinger was the head of the Office of Special Counsel at the Justice Department. Though similar in name, the Office of Special Counsel is not related to the special counsels who investigated Trump’s now-dismissed criminal indictments. Instead, the OSC is an agency that enforces the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity by government officials, the Whistleblower Protection Act and other laws protecting uniformed workers and veterans.
Dellinger has been in the role since last March after being confirmed by the Senate. His term is meant to last five years under existing statutes for special counsels at the agency. According to Dellinger’s lawsuit, Trump’s abrupt firing of him violates provisions that specifically declare that the president can only remove a special counsel from OSC for reasons of “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.”
Trump “disregarded that clear statutory language,” wrote Dellinger’s attorney, Joshua Matz.
Matz claims Dellinger received notice of the firing in an email from the director of presidential personnel at the White House, Sergio Gor.
“That email made no attempt to comply with the Special Counsel’s for-cause removal protection. It stated simply: ‘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,’” the lawsuit states.
Dellinger has asked the court to declare that his firing was unlawful and to reinstate him immediately. He wants the court to declare that Karen Gorman, now the acting special counsel of the OSC, is not the head of the agency and should not be recognized by other federal officials.
The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson is overseeing the claim filed in Washington, D.C.
In January, Trump fired at least 17 inspectors general at various federal agencies that oversee probes and the enforcement of ethics laws. No notice was provided to Congress about the firings, as is required.
No lawsuits have yet been filed by these inspectors general, meaning Dellinger’s claim launches a significantly critical question about the extent of Trump’s power to fire federal officials without oversight.
Trump has blazed through firings since becoming president, including two Democratic commissioners at the Equal Employment Community Commission. He fired the head of the Federal Elections Commission, Ellen Weintraub, on Friday, as well as Colleen Shogan, the national archivist. He has also directed the Justice Department to purge its ranks of prosecutors who investigated Jan. 6 or other cases he was once indicted in.
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Dellinger notes in his lawsuit that Trump’s firing of Gwynne Wilcox, a National Labor Relations Board member, less than a week ago is similar to his own case.
“These events are ongoing, and they have caused ‘chaos’ and ‘confusion’ among civil servants and agency officials. They directly implicate the public’s interest in the smooth functioning of the federal workforce, and they raise troubling questions under both the civil service statutes and the Constitution,” Dellinger’s attorney wrote.