Press Release
February 18, 2025
WASHINGTON – Today, a group of Republican former officials and legal experts filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in support of protecting Hampton Dellinger from dismissal as Special Counsel of the watchdog Office of Special Counsel. Dellinger, who served in this role since March 6, 2024, was abruptly fired last month by the Trump administration. A district judge issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) to prevent Dellinger’s dismissal, but the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to set aside the TRO after they lost in the D.C. Circuit Court. The signers of the brief are recommending that the Court instead keep the TRO in place until the district court rules on Dellinger’s motions in front of the district court days from now.
Signers of the brief include Donald Ayer, John J. Farmer, Jr., Alan Charles Raul, Robert Shanks, and Christine Todd Whitman. These amici curiae are represented by Amb. Norm Eisen, Tianna Mays, and Jon Greenbaum of State Democracy Defenders Fund, and Michael Lieder of Mehri & Skalet, PLLC.
The brief argues that the TRO is necessary because Dellinger’s termination is illegal, and his removal caused immediate harm. Presidential removal of the Special Counsel is only allowed for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office” under the statute enacted by Congress. This, the amici argue, was never demonstrated. The Trump administration claims that, regardless of the statute, the President can fire Dellinger regardless of whether there is reason to do so, and that President Trump experienced harm as a result of Dellinger’s continuation in office. Today’s brief asserts that the constitutional issues are contentious, substantial, and require more significant briefing and argument. Furthermore, the brief argues that the administration has failed to demonstrate any harm to the President as a result of Dellinger.
“The administration purportedly fired Hampton Dellinger without showing a legitimate cause, and now they’re trying to improvidently rush to involve the Supreme Court in an unseemly and, indeed, indecently early stage, because they can’t get what they want from the lower courts. SCOTUS should not countenance these kinds of end runs,” said Amb. Norm Eisen, the executive chair of State Democracy Defenders Fund. “We’re asking the court not to get involved at this extremely preliminary stage.”
The amicus brief is available HERE.
State Democracy Defenders Fund brings together a nonpartisan team to work with national, state, and local allies across the country to defend in real-time the foundations of our democracy.
Mehri & Skalet, PLLC is a leading class action law firm that has been advancing justice since 2001. They are committed to civil rights, workers, whistleblowers, and consumers.