In a bold revelation, fired Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger disclosed his intentions to launch a legal offensive against President Trump, a move thwarted just in time by the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. On Monday evening, the court issued a decisive ruling against Dellinger, despite his attempts to halt the proceedings.
The ruling was delivered by a panel of judges consisting of Henderson, Millett, and Walker, appointees of Presidents George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump, respectively. The court referenced Seila Law and Collins to affirm that the government met its burden, highlighting the president’s authority to remove the head of an agency with a sole top officer.
“On the first factor, the government has satisfied its burden. ‘[T]he Constitution prohibits even ‘modest restrictions’ on the President’s power to remove the head of an agency with a single top officer,'” the judges wrote in their opinion. The judgment further emphasized that the president’s power to remove executive officers cannot be regulated by Congress or reviewed by the courts.
This ruling likely sets a precedent for other similar cases, notably involving Cathy Harris and Gwynne Wilcox. In a candid interview with Mediaite’s Dan Abrams, Dellinger stated his intent to sue for the reinstatement of 200,000 probationary employees dismissed by President Trump. “I knew that as soon as I was out the independence of the office was erased,” Dellinger confessed, adding that he was on the brink of taking legal action on behalf of the fired workers.
Boasting about his efforts, Dellinger revealed he had already managed to reinstate 6,000 probationary employees before the court’s ruling. “Last Wednesday, I got relief for 6,000 of them, and then I got ousted. But I was ready to go in for all of them, and it would have been the right thing to do,” he stated.
Hampton Dellinger just admitted he was prepared to demand the reinstatement of 200,000 federal probationary employees fired by the president. He succeeded in temporarily reinstating almost 6,000 before DC appellate court took him off the job of special counsel:
— Julie Kelly (@julie_kelly2)
March 11, 2025
