Trump asks Supreme Court for permission to fire ethics agency head
President Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to allow him to fire the head of an independent ethics agency that protects whistleblower federal employees.
He has filed an emergency appeal to the country's highest court to rule on whether he can fire Hampton Dellinger, head of the US Office of Special Counsel, News.Az reports, citing BBC.
It is thought to be the first case related to Trump's blizzard of executive actions to reach the highest court.
Trump has also cut more than a dozen inspectors general at various federal agencies and fired thousands of employees across the US government.
Mr Dellinger, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, sued the Trump administration after he was fired by email this month.
He argued that his removal broke a law that protects leaders of independent agencies from being fired by the president, "except in cases of neglect of duty, malfeasance or inefficiency".
The agency lists among its primary objectives the protection of federal employees from unlawful actions in reprisal to whistleblowing, according to its mission statement.
A federal judge in Washington DC issued a temporary order on Wednesday allowing Mr Dellinger to hold on to his position while the case is being considered.
On Saturday, a divided US Court of Appeals in the nation's capital rejected the Trump administration's request to overrule the lower court.
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