Trump asks SCOTUS to let him fire special counsel

President Donald Trump and other officials in his administration have asked the justices to determine whether the White House could remove the head of the Office of Special Counsel. Earlier this month, special counsel Hampton Dellinger sued the Trump administration after it fired him. He said he could not be fired without evidence he’d engaged in inefficiency, neglect, or bad behavior. The Trump administration argued to the high court that the president should have the authority to hire and remove people within the executive branch.

How did this case get to the Supreme Court? Washington, D.C.-based U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson temporarily stopped the administration from removing Dellinger while she reviewed arguments. Just days later, she extended her temporary block of the administration’s removal of Dellinger. The administration then appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for The District of Columbia. The appeals court refused to overturn the ban on the administration’s removal of Dellinger.

Dig deeper: Read Christina Grube’s report in The Sift about a federal judge blocking the Trump administration from enforcing a ban on transgender interventions for minors.