Embattled on-again-off-again Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger has abandoned his legal fight for reinstatement, handing the Trump administration a solid win. Using an emailed statement in lieu of a white flag, Dellinger said, “My fight to stay on the job was not for me, but rather for the ideal that OSC should be as Congress intended: an independent watchdog and a safe, trustworthy place for whistleblowers to report wrongdoing and be protected from retaliation."

Dellinger's decision comes in the aftermath of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals handing him a resounding defeat last night; see Biden Official Who Trump Fired and Was Reinstated by an Obama Judge Has Been Fired Again – RedState. By the court declaring that the Trump administration had met the standard for a stay of the lower court's judgment pending appeal, it indicated that the administration was likely to succeed on appeal, and the harm done to the president's power by a forced reinstatement of Dellinger far outweighed any wages he may lose.

The key takeaway is that Trump and any future president have clear authority to fire the head of any so-called independent agency run by a single person. 

As I posted last night, this is only one portion of the fight. Cathy Harris, the head of the Merit Systems Protection Board, enjoyed the same statutory protections as Dellinger; that is, she could only be removed from office “for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.” Trump fired her, and she has also been ordered reinstated; see Judge Orders Biden Appointee Fired by Trump Reinstated to Office – RedState. The appeals court allowed her to file an amicus brief in Dellinger's case. Her case is a headlong assault on a hoary Supreme Court precedent called Humphrey's Executor, which held that the president could not remove any director of an independent agency headed by multiple commissioners for policy disputes; see Trump Declares War on the Administrative State – RedState.

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