Personnel
Firing + Dismissals + Ousters
July 22 - Roger Rogoff sued the Trump administration in the Western District of Washington and moved to be reinstated as U.S. Attorney, after the district court’s judges appointed him on July 15 and the administration fired him by email less than an hour later. The complaint argues the removal violates the appointment statute and the Appointments Clause. (Complaint.) (NYT.) (CNN.)
July 20 - Judge Michael Nachmanoff (E.D. Va.) on Friday ruled from the bench that the Trump administration deprived former Federal Emergency Management Agency Chief Financial Officer Mary Comans of property and liberty without due process when it fired her in February 2025. Judge Nachmanoff ordered a name-clearing hearing rather than reinstatement. (Docket.) (Politico.)
July 16 - The administration reportedly fired Roger Rogoff 54 minutes after judges in the Western District of Washington appointed him to be the district’s U.S. attorney. Rogoff is reportedly considering whether to challenge his removal. (NYT.)
July 10 - President Trump on Thursday ousted all three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission. Two Democratic commissioners were fired, while the third commissioner, a Republican, resigned. (NYT.)
July 7 - A divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held Thursday that the CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence must reinstate 19 career intelligence officers fired for working on diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. The panel found the agencies violated the governing employee-termination regulation and the officers’ due process rights under the Fifth Amendment. (Opinion.) (NYT.)
June 29 - During a meeting in late November, White House officials reportedly told Henry Kerner, the acting chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board, that they believed he was required to follow an Office of Legal Counsel opinion concluding that the MSPB must resolve the constitutional arguments the executive branch makes in cases before the board regarding the removal of federal employees. (NYT.)
June 25 - Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte reportedly fired six intelligence officials and sent 45 officers detailed to ODNI back to their home agencies. (NYT.)
June 23 - Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte reportedly began firing people at his office on Monday. (CNN.) (ABC.) Democratic lawmakers on the House and Senate Intelligence Committees on Monday issued a letter to Pulte warning that “[m]aking significant structural changes to ODNI, to include a reduction in force, is not an appropriate course of action for anyone in an acting capacity.” (Letter.) (NYT.)
June 22 - Politico reported that Acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte directed staff last week to compile a list of 300 employees at the National Counterterrorism Center to be fired. (Politico.)
May 29 - During a pretrial hearing Thursday, a DOJ lawyer told Judge Jesse Furman (S.D.N.Y.) that the firing of former federal prosecutor Maurene Comey was valid under the president’s Article II authority “even if there were political motivations.” (Politico.)
May 13 - Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary resigned on Tuesday, reportedly following months of clashes over policy with senior administration officials. President Trump announced that Kyle Diamantas, the deputy commissioner for food, will step in as acting FDA commissioner. (Truth Social.) (WSJ.)
April 29 - Judge Jesse M. Furman (S.D.N.Y.) ruled Tuesday that former prosecutor Maurene Comey can pursue her wrongful-termination suit in federal court, rejecting the Justice Department’s effort to route the case to the Merit Systems Protection Board. Judge Furman held that because Comey “was fired pursuant to Article II of the Constitution,” rather than the Civil Service Reform Act, her claims fall “outside the universe of cases that Congress intended the MSPB to resolve.” (Opinion and Order.) (Politico.)
April 27 - President Trump on Friday reportedly ousted multiple members of the National Science Board, an independent body overseeing the National Science Foundation. (WaPo.)
April 23 - Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday fired Navy Secretary John Phelan. His departure reportedly follows months of internal tensions. (WSJ.) (NYT.)
April 13 - The Justice Department on Friday fired two immigration judges who dismissed high-profile deportation cases against pro-Palestinian student activists. A U.S. official told the New York Times that six judges were fired on Friday, four of which were probationary. (NYT.)
April 13 - The White House Office of Personnel Management last week fired all six board members of the Presidio Trust, which oversees a national historic site in San Francisco. (NYT.)
April 3 - Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday fired the Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Randy George, reportedly following clashes over personnel. (NYT.)
April 3 - President Trump on Thursday fired Attorney General Pam Bondi and announced that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will serve as acting Attorney General. (Truth Social.) (NYT.) Quinta Jurecic argued that the next attorney general, like Bondi, will have an impossible job. (The Atlantic.)
April 2 - A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit on Wednesday stayed pending appeal a lower court order that set aside the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s action placing more than 1,000 employees of Voice of America on administrative leave. (Order.) (NYT.) For background on the litigation, see a prior Roundup.
April 1 - Three former FBI agents filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi on behalf of themselves and a proposed class of all similarly situated former FBI employees who were terminated on the “basis of perceived political affiliation, without being afforded due process.” (Complaint.) (NYT.)
March 24 - Reuters reports that the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission’s former enforcement chief resigned last Monday after clashing with agency leadership over the handling of major cases, including those involving figures tied to President Trump. (Reuters.)
March 23 - Judge Royce C. Lamberth (D.D.C.) on Friday vacated a March 23 deadline for reinstating all employees of the U.S. Agency for Global Media placed on administrative leave, while denying the government’s motion for partial stay pending appeal of the court’s underlying March 17 order and requiring it to submit regular status updates on compliance. (Order.)
March 20 - FBI Director Kash Patel said on Thursday during his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee that FBI agents who had investigated Trump’s mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were fired last month for “violating their ethical obligations.” (NYT.)
March 20 - Two anonymous former FBI agents filed a complaint on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia contending that the Justice Department violated their First and Fifth Amendment rights by firing them for working on “Arctic Frost,” an investigation into a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election that resulted in then-former President Donald Trump’s indictment. (Complaint.) (NYT.)
March 18 - Judge Royce Lamberth (D.D.C.) on Tuesday vacated and set aside all actions taken by the U.S. Agency for Global Media pursuant to a March 2025 memorandum to reduce Voice of America to the “statutory minimum,” including the placement of 1,042 employees on administrative leave, the suspension of broadcasting, and the termination of non-contractor staff. (Order.) (Memorandum Opinion.) (Politico.)
March 6 -A March 4 filing shows that Attorney General Pam Bondi ratified and affirmed Kash Patel’s decision to fire FBI agents for kneeling during a 2020 protest. The government on Wednesday moved to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the agents’ firing. (Memo.) (Docket.)
March 6 - President Trump on Thursday ousted Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security and announced that Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin will serve as her successor starting on March 31. (Truth Social.) (WSJ.)
March 4 - A divided panel of the Fourth Circuit on Wednesday granted the government’s petition for mandamus relief in a lawsuit brought by terminated employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and directed a lower court to issue a protective order preventing the plaintiffs from deposing several named defendants, including Elon Musk. (Order.)
March 2 - FBI Director Kash Patel last week reportedly fired more than a dozen FBI agents who participated in the agency’s investigation of Donald Trump’s mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. (WaPo.)
Feb. 26 - The FBI reportedly dismissed around 10 employees who had worked on the investigation into President Trump’s retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. (NYT.)
Feb. 23 - The Justice Department on Friday terminated the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia hours after judges in the district unanimously appointed a longtime litigator to temporarily fill the post vacated by Lindsey Halligan. (WaPo.)
Feb. 18 - The Washington Post reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth forced Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to terminate a senior military advisor, writing that the ouster “mark[s] the Pentagon chief’s latest intervention into the service’s internal affairs.” (WaPo.)
Feb. 17 - Donald T. Kinsella was fired by the Trump administration less than five hours after being appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York by the district court. (WaPo.)
Feb. 17 - Gail Slater, assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, resigned on Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reports that her departure follows clashes with senior administration officials “who at times favored more lenient oversight of mergers.” (WSJ.)
Feb. 5 - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is expected to issue a final rule on Thursday that will make it easier for the White House to terminate high-ranking career employees tasked with implementing executive branch policies. Office of Personnel Management officials said the rule is intended to target “conscientious objectors” who interfere with President Trump’s agenda. (WSJ.)
Dec. 23 - The Trump administration ordered nearly 30 career diplomats serving as U.S. ambassadors to leave their posts by mid-January, a move that a spokesperson for the American Foreign Service Association said is without precedent. (NYT.)
Dec. 16 - Chief Judge James Boasberg (D.D.C) on Monday granted a motion allowing twelve former FBI agents to proceed pseudonymously in a suit challenging their terminations for kneeling at a protest in 2020. (Opinion and Order.)
Dec. 11 - Several outlets reported that a divided three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit appeared skeptical of the Justice Department’s effort to lift a preliminary injunction blocking the CIA from firing 19 intelligence officers previously assigned to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Two judges pressed whether the terminations were discretionary decisions under the National Security Act, as the government argued, or a reduction in force subject to agency procedures and review. (Law.com.) (Bloomberg Law.) (Politico.) (Audio of oral argument.)
Dec. 8 - The Supreme Court today heard oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter, a case involving the legality of President Trump’s removal of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter despite a statutory requirement that the president can remove commissioners only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” (NYT.)
Dec. 2 - Fourteen employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were returned to administrative leave after CNN reported that they had been reinstated. (CNN.) The employees were initially placed on leave in August after signing an open letter to Congress criticizing the Trump administration’s overhaul of FEMA. (NYT.)
Oct. 31 - The Trump administration fired about a dozen officials in Fannie Mae’s ethics and internal-investigations unit amid broader layoffs, days after ousting its chief ethics officer. (WSJ.)
Oct. 30 - The Justice Department placed two prosecutors on administrative leave after they described the Jan. 6 attack as a “riot” carried out by a “mob” in a court filing later withdrawn and replaced by new attorneys. (WaPo.)
Oct. 15 - According to the New York Times, a U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia “was forced to resign in August because he refused to sideline a high-ranking career prosecutor” who had questioned the evidentiary basis of an investigation into the FBI’s handling of classified Russia-related documents. (NYT.)
Oct. 9 - FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed two agents who worked with Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate President Trump during the Biden administration. (NYT.)
Oct. 2 - The Trump administration on Wednesday fired several members of the National Council on the Humanities, an advisory group to the National Endowment for the Humanities. (NYT.)