An order for the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of federal workers who were fired in mass layoffs intended to drastically reduce the size of the federal government was halted by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. A new report from the Federal News Network revealed the latest government actions as Americans continue to adapt to economic changes.
The administration filed an emergency appeal with the justices of a California federal judge’s decision to restore 16,000 probationary employees at six federal agencies while a lawsuit is pending because their terminations violated federal law.
Government Actions Taking Place
A technical legal evaluation of many nonprofit associations’ standing to sue over the terminations was part of the court’s order. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor stated that they would have upheld the judge’s ruling.
The justices have joined the Republican administration in its battle against federal judges whose rulings have impeded President Donald Trump’s agenda for the third time in less than a week. The court also withdrew an order that halted deportations under a wartime legislation from the 18th century and postponed an order that restored subsidies for teacher training.
“There is no doubt that thousands of public service employees were unlawfully fired in an effort to cripple federal agencies and their crucial programs that serve millions of Americans every day,” the coalition said in a statement.
However, Tuesday’s order will have a limited impact, much like the previous ones. Due to an order in a separate lawsuit over the firings, many agency employees will continue to be on paid administrative leave for the time being.
What Does This Mean for Fed Workers?
Employees of those six agencies as well as about a dozen others are parties to the second lawsuit, which was filed in Maryland. Because it only applies in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that sued the administration, that order is more restrictive. The Maryland order is being appealed separately by the Justice Department.
The administration has insisted that the agencies themselves directed the firings and they “have since decided to stand by those terminations,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court.
The complaints allege that since Trump took office, at least 24,000 probationary employees have been let go, although the administration has not verified that figure.
Although the coalition of labor unions and organizations that filed the lawsuit expressed disappointment with the court’s decision, it stated that the fight is far from finished.
William Alsup, a U.S. District Judge in San Francisco, decided that the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director had wrongly ordered the terminations. The departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior, and the Treasury were all rehired by him.
Democratic President Bill Clinton nominated Alsup, who voiced his displeasure with what he described as the government’s attempt to circumvent rules and regulations by terminating probationary employees who had fewer legal safeguards.
He expressed his disgust that workers who had received excellent performance reviews only months prior were informed that they were being let go for subpar work.
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