Excerpt: “The same day that this Court held the government’s application in abeyance, respondent filed administrative actions before the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) challenging executive agencies’ firings of six probationary employees. … In short, a fired Special Counsel is wielding executive power, over the elected Executive’s objection, to halt employment decisions made by other executive agencies. The MSPB, the entity that respondent argues is responsible for supervising him, is deferring to his stay requests so long as the requests are rational. The MSPB, moreover, is being led by a Chairman who has herself been fired by the President, only to be reinstated by a district court. See Harris v. Bessent, No. 25-cv-412, 2025 WL 521027 (D.D.C. Feb. 18, 2025) (ordering that the fired Chairman “shall continue to serve as Chairman” even though the applicable statutes purport to grant tenure protection only to MSPB members and do not restrict a member’s removal as Chairman, see 5 U.S.C. 1202(d) and 1203(a)). Those developments underscore the grounds for vacating the district court’s order. The government respectfully asks that this Court at a minimum continue to hold the application in abeyance, if the Court does not grant it now that the TRO has been extended. Once the district court issues its final decision, presumably on March 1, it may become necessary for the government to request further relief, at which point the Court could dispose of the present application along with any subsequent application.”
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(8 pages)
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