US appeals court allows Trump to fire head of independent watchdog agency

By Jack Queen

(Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed President Donald Trump to fire the head of a watchdog agency responsible for protecting whistleblowers.

The unsigned order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit pauses a lower court order that reinstated Office of Special Counsel chief Hampton Dellinger.

The ruling is temporary while the appeals court weighs the merits of the case.

Dellinger's lawyers and White House representatives did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

The decision came the same day that a board that reviews firings of federal workers reinstated thousands of U.S. Department of Agriculture employees at the request of Dellinger, who said the dismissals were illegal.

Trump fired Dellinger on February 7 without providing a reason, part of the Republican's wide-ranging shakeup of the federal government. Dellinger was appointed by Democratic President Joe Biden.

Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris said Dellinger's continued work as special counsel was harming the Trump administration, pointing to Dellinger's role in halting the firings of six probationary government workers the administration had sought to dismiss.

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington previously declared Dellinger's firing illegal and said he could remain at his post while his legal challenge played out.

The Office of Special Counsel allows whistleblowers to make disclosures about alleged misconduct within federal agencies and investigates complaints of retaliation. It also enforces a U.S. law known as the Hatch Act that limits political participation by federal employees.

The Supreme Court at an earlier stage in the case declined on February 21 to let Trump immediately fire Dellinger while litigation proceeded in a lower court.

(Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sonali Paul)