A federal appeals court in Washington on Saturday allowed the head of a government ethics watchdog agency whom President Donald Trump fired last week to stay on the job, a decision that will likely tee up the fight over similar dismissals for the Supreme Court.

The Justice Department's filing asks the conservative-majority court to lift a judge's court order temporarily reinstating Hampton Dellinger as the leader of the Office of Special Counsel.

President Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to allow him to fire the head of an independent ethics agency that protects whistleblower federal employees. He has filed an emergency appeal to the country's highest court to rule on whether he can fire Hampton Dellinger,