Federal government attorneys defending President Donald Trump’s firing of an independent government watchdog argue former President Joe Biden set the 2021 precedent of removing an agency head without cause.
“President Biden removed the Commissioner of Social Security [Andrew Saul] without cause, contrary to the statutory limitations that restricted removal over that agency head except for ‘neglect of duty or malfeasance in office,’” federal counsel for Trump argued in court papers filed Tuesday. “Perhaps unsurprisingly, the only courts of appeal to have considered the question—the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits—have both concluded that the removal restrictions for the single-headed Social Security Administration are unconstitutional.”