The Supreme Court has ruled that one of the government agency leaders whom President Trump wants to fire can remain on the job for at least another week.

Special counsel Hampton Dellinger had argued his firing was illegal because Mr. Trump didn’t give good cause for it — and the law creating his post requires such a reason.

A lower court had issued a temporary restraining order keeping Mr. Dellinger in his post while he challenges his removal. Mr. Trump had asked the justices to kick him out while the case develops, saying it was an intrusion on the president’s powers to make him have to deal with an employee he doesn’t have faith in.

The court ruling Friday leaves him in the post until the restraining order expires on Wednesday.

Mr. Dellinger’s case is the first to reach the high court out of the tsunami of legal challenges to Mr. Trump’s aggressive agenda.

Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented, saying the district court’s restraining order was issued too hastily.

The issue before the justices involved whether the restraining order could be appealed.

As special counsel, Mr. Dellinger is the government’s official cop for Hatch Act violations and for protecting whistleblowers.

At issue in the legal battle is whether the president can fire members of the executive branch even when they are part of an “independent agency.”

Under a 90-year-old Supreme Court precedent, that is not allowed.

But conservatives argue that case flies in the face of presidential powers, and the president needs to be able to put his team in place.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.