A hero for our times

Hampton Dellinger is standing between Elon Musk's henchnerds and the jobs of thousands of federal employees.

I didn’t watch the not-the-State-of-the-Union speech last night. I couldn’t bring myself to listen to Trump’s lies, bravado, and insults. From what I’ve read this morning, he enraged the Democrats and cheered the Republicans, but I doubt the spectacle will have any real impact on much going forward.

Instead, I want to focus on an unsung, or at least under-sung, hero from North Carolina, Hampton Dellinger. He’s shown us what it means when people say, “Do not obey in advance.” When Trump tried to fire him from his position as head of the Office of Special Counsel, Dellinger pushed back. Now, a judge has sided with him, ordering the White House to leave him in place and not interfere with his work.

The Office of Special Counsel is a somewhat obscure position that’s suddenly incredibly relevant. Dellinger and his office ensure workers are not fired for improper reasons, especially reporting illegal or improper behavior by superiors. Given what Elon Musk and his band of twenty-something henchnerds are doing, Dellinger is protecting thousands of federal employees from illegal dismissal.

Dellinger has moved to reinstate more than 5,000 probationary employees fired by Musk. He said the firings “appear to have been carried out in a manner inconsistent with federal personnel laws." They were dismissed for no apparent reason other than to reduce the federal workforce and with no regard for civil service protections. The Merit Systems Protection Board will make the final decision as to whether or not the employees are reinstated.

Dellinger was appointed to his position by Joe Biden and approved by the Senate for a five year term. Trump moved to fire Dellinger back on February 7, but he sued to keep his job. Judge Amy Berman Jackson determined Dellinger’s job is protected. She wrote, “It is his independence that qualifies him to watch over the time-tested structure that is supposed to bar executive officials from taking federal jobs from qualified individuals and handing them out to political allies — a system that Congress found intolerable over a century ago.” The Supreme Court will ultimately decide whether he keeps his job.

The case gets to the very heart of the civil service system that replaced the corrupt patronage system that led to scandal after scandal in the latter half of the 19th century. If Trump can put a political lackey in the job, then the federal workforce will likely be filled with unqualified political appointees. Graft and corruption, a staple of Trumpism, will almost certainly follow.

Dellinger is built for this role. He’s a second generation attorney who grew up in a family committed to protecting the rights of Americans. His father was Walter Dellinger, a prominent attorney who served as U.S. Solicitor General during the Clinton administration. Hampton spent almost twenty years in private practice before being appointed Assistant Attorney General in the Biden administration.

Dellinger has a clear-eyed view of his role. He’s standing up against a bullying administration to protect both his position and the jobs of people being bulldozed by Elon Musk’s DOGE boys. He’s pushing back against authoritarianism from the inside as Trump attempts to dismantle the civil service and replace hard working Americans with political toadies.

Dellinger is a hero for our times. We should be thankful that he’s in that position and we should be proud of our fellow North Carolinian.