A federal judge in Washington sounded skeptical Wednesday about President Donald Trump’s power to fire a federal watchdog official without cause — and aware that the Supreme Court will quickly review whatever she decides.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, after a hearing, gave herself until Saturday to decide how to rule on Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger’s legal challenge to his removal, possibly including a permanent order reinstating him.
Jackson extended her previous temporary restraining order that reinstated Dellinger, which otherwise would have expired Wednesday. The Trump administration had appealed that order to the Supreme Court, which decided to hold that appeal “in abeyance” and wait to see what Jackson did next.
