A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed President Donald Trump to fire the head of a watchdog agency responsible for protecting whistleblowers. The unsigned order by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit pauses a lower court order that reinstated Office of Special Counsel chief Hampton Dellinger.

A federal appeals court on Wednesday allowed President Donald Trump to temporarily remove the head of an independent watchdog agency while the judges decide whether the president has the authority to fire him without cause.

An appeals court temporarily let the Trump administration oust Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger from his role as a federal watchdog Wednesday, freezing a lower court ruling, just hours after the Supreme Court separately forced the government to pay out $2 billion in foreign aid—one of the first major blows the Supreme Court has dealt to President Donald Trump.