The D.C. Circuit Court has issued an opinion affirming that President Donald Trump acted within his authority in removing Hampton Dellinger as head of the Office of Special Counsel (OSC). The court ruled that the president's ability to remove the head of a single-headed agency is consistent with precedents set in cases such as Seila Law v. CFPB and Collins v. Yellen. Hampton Dellinger, a Biden appointee, had filed a lawsuit challenging his dismissal, arguing that statutory protections required cause for his removal. However, the court found that the OSC's powers, including its role in reinstating 6,000 probationary federal employees and plans to reinstate up to 200,000 more, constituted significant executive authority, making Dellinger removable at the president's discretion. The Merit Systems Protection Board, composed of Biden appointees, had temporarily supported Dellinger's actions before the appellate court's ruling. The court also criticized Judge Amy Berman Jackson's earlier decision to reinstate Dellinger. Dellinger has since dropped his lawsuit, filing a motion on March 7 to end his challenge to the dismissal.