The Trump administration took the case to the Supreme Court after an appeals court prevented the president from firing Hampton Dellinger, the head of the Office of Special Counsel.

The Supreme Court on Friday dashed President Donald Trump’s plan to immediately fire the head of an independent agency that investigates whistleblower claims, allowing Hampton Dellinger to remain in the job through at least the middle of next week.

The Supreme Court stiffed President Trump in his administration’s first high court appeal by punting Friday on a request to greenlight the firing of the head of a whistleblower protection office. The administration filed an emergency application asking the justices to wipe a lower court’s temporary reinstatement of U.