Cantwell, Colleagues File Amicus Brief Over Illegal Inspectors General Firings

WASHINGTON, D.C. –This week, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, joined 26 Senate Democrats infiling an amicus briefin support of a lawsuit brought by eight inspectors general (IGs) who were illegally fired by President Donald Trump. The Senators noted that the role of an inspector general is to uncover government waste, corruption, or illegal actions by political appointees and ensure the laws enacted by Congress are faithfully executed. In 2022, by a vote of 93 to 1, the Senate voted to strengthen existing IG protections to require that Congress be notified at least 30 days in advance of the removal of any Inspector General.
“Inspectors General (“IGs”) are responsible for uncovering and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse in the administration of federal programs. Their investigations, reports, and audits are crucial tools in uncovering corruption and mismanagement in the executive branch, and IGs are vital to fulfilling Congress’ constitutional oversight responsibilities. For those reasons, Congress requires the President by law to provide notice to Congress, and thus an opportunity for interbranch consultation, before removing an Inspector General from position,”wrote the Senators in the amicus brief.
“IGs are, by design and by law, not partisan political appointees who the President must be able to dispose of at will, lest their faults be attributed to the President,”the Senators continued.
The eight inspectors general who are suing President Trump and other administration officials over their illegal firings are part of a larger group of about17 independent inspectors generalwho were illegally fired on January 24. In order to protect the independence of America’s nonpartisan IGs, federal law explicitlyrequires the Presidentto provide Congress both a 30-day notice and communicate in writing a "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons," for the termination. However, as the plaintiffs explain in their complaint, and as the Senators describe in their amicus brief, President Trump did not follow the law.
The amicus brief, led by Senate Minority Leader Schumer (D-NY), and Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Chris Coons (D-DE) was also signed by Senators Welch (D-VT), Schiff (D-CA), Luján (D-NM), Blumenthal (D-CT), Van Hollen (D-MD), Duckworth (D-IL), Hassan (D-NH), Bennet (D-CO), Cortez Masto (D-NV), Heinrich (D-NM), Schatz (D-HI), Shaheen (D-NH), Whitehouse (D-RI), Gallego (D-AZ), Slotkin (D-MI), Warren (D-MA), Gillibrand (D-NY), Kelly (D-AZ), Hirono (D-HI), Klobuchar (D-MN), Durbin (D-IL), Peters (D-MI), Reed (D-RI), Booker (D-NJ), and Rosen (D-NV).
The full amicus brief is availableHERE.
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