The Trump administration is expected to ask the Supreme Court to overturn a ruling regarding a top watchdog of government ethics. Hampton Dellinger, leader of the Office of Special Counsel, sued the Trump administration after he was fired. Then, a lower court paused the firing. The case raises concerns about the separation of powers within the government, former federal prosecutor Sarah Krissoff told CNN Monday.
“So this involves a man who led the agency that protects whistleblowers," CNN’s Pamela Brown reported. "The Justice Department wants the Supreme Court to lift that lower court ruling and keep him off the job while the case proceeds. What do you think will happen? Do you think the Supreme Court will take the case?”
“This is a real test for the Supreme Court here," Krissoff said. "Are they going to get involved or are they going to let this play out in the lower court?”
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She summarized the case: “So all that's really happened so far is that the district court, sort of the lowest court, paused the termination of Hampton Dellinger. Well, you know, this all sort of sorted itself out, and there was a discussion about whether or not President [Donald] Trump was able to fire Dillinger at this point. The appellate court upheld that pause… there was some dissent in the ranks there, but it said, ‘We're gonna keep this pause and let this play out, prevent this firing from happening, keep the status quo.’”
“Now,” she continued, “Trump's team has brought this to the Supreme Court. So this is sort of the first test of them weighing in on these really exceptional personnel decisions Trump's team has made so far.”
“What does this all mean in terms of separation of powers?” Brown asked.
“So it's a little alarming, actually,” Krissoff said.
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“So the President certainly has broad discretion to replace personnell,” she continued. “In this particular case, Dellinger was appointed for a five-year term. He has some protections awarded by Congress, I think that is because of the nature of the work he does. He's essentially there to ensure the whistleblowers are protected, he's investigating government misconduct, he's investigating prohibited actions against federal employees, so I think for all of those reasons, it certainly was in Trump's crosshairs, and Trump wanted him out, but there are certain protections he has, limited protections against his firing, and we'll see what the Supreme Court does with that.”
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