NOW PLAYING
A federal appeals court in a 2-1 decision Thursday upheld a lower court ruling blocking the Trump administration from firing 19 career intelligence officers who had been assigned to roles dealing with diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA).
The ruling from the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found the Trump administration erred in firing the officers without any chance to appeal the decision or seek reassignment to a new role.
“The Agencies have never suggested that any of the Intelligence Officers engaged in workplace misconduct or that the terminations were motivated by performance concerns. Rather, the Director of the CIA stated affirmatively that the decisions to terminate the Intelligence Officers were taken to ‘effectuate the directives in’ DEIA Executive Order” signed by President Trump, the majority wrote in its opinion.
The suit, filed in February of last year, described the plaintiffs as “highly-trained U.S. intelligence officers” at both the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and notes the employees were temporarily assigned to work on DEIA issues.
“None of these officer’s activities was or is illegal, and at no time have the agencies employing Plaintiffs contended that they individually engaged in any misconduct, nor are they accused of poor performance,” their lawyers argued.
The appeals court found the federal hiring process “creates an entitlement to the rights of consideration for reassignment and internal appeal of a termination decision” and that the CIA and ODNI needed to provide due process.
“The Agencies may not ignore their own procedures and then use such noncompliance as an excuse to evade future obligations,” the court wrote.
In a dissent, Judge Paul Niemeyer argued “the district court’s and the majority’s holdings, I conclude, fail with double F’s.”
“The unfettered discretion that Congress gave the Directors to terminate the employment of agency employees precludes the employees from having any entitlement to their employment and therefore precludes a finding that they had a property interest protected by the Fifth Amendment,” wrote Niemeyer, a former President George W. Bush appointee.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags anti-DEI DEI DEIA DEIA DEIA Executive Order Donald Trump George W. Bush Intelligence officers Trump administrationCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Administration News
See All
Media Wall Street Journal: Trump family ‘cashing in on the presidency in big and sketchy ways’ by Ashleigh Fields 8 minutes ago Media / 8 minutes ago 
