Since President Donald Trump reclaimed the executive branch in January, more than 50 lawsuits have been filed to halt his America-first efforts.
Since President Donald Trump reclaimed the executive branch in January, more than 50 lawsuits have been filed to halt his America-first efforts. These lawsuits present a variety of legal issues, from the constitutionality of Trump’s executive orders addressing birthright citizenship and transgender prisoners, to agencies’ ability to cancel federal grants, to the president’s power to fire executive branch officials.
The vast number of cases, coupled with the diversity of legal issues and the near-daily developments, make it challenging for Americans to track—much less understand—the current lawfare. To aid our fellow citizens, then, today The Federalist runs its first in a series of in-depth articles covering this litigation, beginning with the issue most likely to reach the Supreme Court first: President Trump’s authority to fire executive branch officials and whether courts have the power to order such officials’ reinstatement.
Trump’s Firing of Executive Branch Officials
Soon after Trump’s inauguration, he replaced a wide array of executive branch officials with individuals committed to his agenda. So normal is this transition that Biden administration officials including Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray voluntarily resigned, recognizing Trump would soon nominate others to serve the executive branch.
However, Trump’s firing of other officials spurred litigation, including:
- Dellinger v. Bessent, in which Hampton Dellinger challenged his removal as special counsel of the Office of Special Counsel;
- Harris v. Bessent, in which Cathy Harris challenged her removal from the Merit Systems Protection Board (“MSPB”);
- Wilcox v. Trump, in which Gwynne Wilcox challenged her removal from the National Labor Relations Board;
- Grundmann v. Trump, in which Susan Tsui Grundmann challenged her removal from the Federal Labor Relations Authority; and
- Storch v. Hegseth, in which eight inspector generals challenged their removal from various Offices of Inspector General. […]
— Read More: thefederalist.com
