Breaking: Trump Wins In DC Circuit

This was a 3-0 Appellate Court win in the Hampton Dellinger firing case. There’s no opinion filed yet, but …

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals allowed President Trump’s firing of Hampton Dellinger to proceed.

The appeals court granted a motion to stay Judge Amy Berman Jackson’s order reinstating the Biden holdover.

The three judge panel included: Henderson (George W. Bush appointee), Millett (Obama appointee), and Walker (Trump appointee).

And:

“This order gives effect to the removal of appellee from his position as Special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel,” the appeals court said in its order Wednesday. “Appellants [Trump 2.0] have satisfied the stringent requirements for a stay pending appeal.”

…

It’s likely that Dellinger will appeal the court’s order to the US Supreme Court on an emergency basis.

Shipwreckedcrew says this “vindicates CJ Roberts”, meaning, Roberts was right to allow the case to go through the regular order of appeals rather than short circuiting it.

Shipwreckedcrew @shipwreckedcrew

The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has just vindicated CJ Roberts.

The Court has just granted the Motion to Stay the Order of Judge Amy Berman Jackson that Hampton Dellinger remain as head of the Office of Special Counsel while he litigates the legality of his dismissal without cause in alleged violation of the statutory requirement that he can be removed only "for cause."

…

This is "regular order". Judge Jackson issued a ruling on the merits Saturday night, granting summary judgment for Dellinger. The DOJ filed a Notice of Appeal, and a Motion to Stay Judge Jackson's order that Dellinger remain as head of the Office of Special Counsel.

The Appeals Court has now undone her Order while the appeal is pending. That means the TRO and Prelim Injunction are vacated and the firing of Dellinger is now back in effect.

...

DoJ had earlier sought an “emergency” vacating of the TRO, but Roberts sent the case back to go through “regular order”.

The Supreme Court held a motion to vacate Judge Jackson's TRO "in abeyance" while she was considering the merits. She acknowledged such during the hearing when she said she understood the Supreme Court was watching over her shoulder.

BUT, the Appeals Court has now done its job -- meaning the decision by SCOTUS to respect "regular order" was the correct one.

That said -- the panel granting the stay has two GOP appointees -- Judge Henderson (Bush 41) and Judge Waker (Trump). DOJ was fortunate in the draw in that regard.

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5:32 PM · Mar 5, 2025

Getting two GOPer judges may have been a good draw, although Henderson is from a pretty much totally different GOP than Waker. OTOH, the Obama appointee joined in with them, which is a plus. At any rate, what Shipwreckedcrew is saying here about Roberts mirrors, in a way, what Turley and Whelan said about the earlier case today. That was essentially a procedural ruling and it doesn’t mean Roberts and/or Amy won’t side with the Alito bloc when the case inevitably—and quickly—returns to the SCOTUS. Roberts’ thing is he wants to force the lower courts to do their jobs correctly. I get that, but otoh it sometimes leads to confusion among the public, which isn’t a good thing because it makes the law seem arbitrary.