Judge Rules Against Trump on Watchdog Firing; Trump Declares English Official Language

A federal judge ruled that limits on President Trump's power to fire the head of the Office of Special Counsel are constitutional. The ruling stems from Trump's February 7 dismissal of Hampton Dellinger. Judge Amy Berman Jackson stated that Dellinger's role in protecting whistleblowers should not be chilled by fear of arbitrary removal. The Trump administration had sought Supreme Court intervention. Separately, the White House issued an executive order declaring English as the nation's official language. The order also revokes a 1990s mandate requiring federal agencies to provide assistance to non-English speakers. While acknowledging over 350 languages spoken in the US, the order emphasizes English as the language of the nation's founding documents. Nearly 68 million people in the US speak a language other than English at home.