Supreme Court halts order to rehire federal workers removed by Trump – Washington Examiner
The Supreme Court recently issued a ruling that temporarily halts a federal judge’s order to reinstate thousands of federal workers fired by the Trump administration. This decision represents an early victory for the administration’s efforts to streamline the federal workforce. The Court’s unsigned order blocks a March 13 injunction from U.S. District Judge William Alsup, which had required six federal agencies to rehire approximately 16,000 employees who were let go under what the administration framed as performance-based terminations during an aggressive push to reduce government bureaucracy.
The majority decision stated that the nonprofit organizations pursuing the injunction lacked the standing to sue, although this ruling does not affect other legal cases related to the matter.Dissenting justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson expressed their disagreement wiht the decision. The fired employees were primarily probationary workers, many of whom were long-time civil servants recently promoted or reassigned.
The Trump administration’s approach has been criticized by Judge Alsup, who questioned the legitimacy of the claimed performance issues. The Justice Department argued that judge Alsup’s actions infringed upon executive powers regarding federal personnel decisions. Following attempts by the Trump administration to seek relief from a lower court’s order, the Supreme Court’s intervention signifies ongoing legal battles related to federal employment policies under trump’s administration.
Supreme Court halts order to rehire federal workers removed by Trump
The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a federal judge’s sweeping order requiring the Trump administration to rehire thousands of fired federal employees, marking an early legal win for the president’s plan to slash government bureaucracy.
In a brief, unsigned order, the high court sided with the administration and froze a March 13 injunction from U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, who ordered six agencies to reinstate 16,000 recently hired probationary employees pending litigation over the legality of their mass terminations.
The majority of the justices said the nine nonprofit organizations that obtained the injunction lacked standing to sue. However, the order does not affect claims filed by other plaintiffs in separate but related cases, leaving parts of the legal fight unresolved. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, two of the court’s Democratic-appointed justices, noted their dissent from the unsigned decision.
The six agencies targeted by Alsup’s order include the departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Energy, Interior, and Treasury.
The firings stem from the Trump administration’s aggressive push, led partly by Elon Musk, to streamline the federal workforce and dismantle what officials describe as a bloated and inefficient bureaucracy. The administration has framed the firings as performance-based terminations of probationary workers, a claim Alsup sharply questioned.
“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” Alsup, a Clinton appointee, said at a March hearing.
The fired employees are mostly probationary hires, meaning they typically worked less than a year or two in their current roles. Many were longtime civil servants who were recently promoted or shifted into new roles. Probationary workers typically do not yet enjoy all the workforce protections that cover federal employees.
A separate federal judge in Baltimore also ordered reinstatement of probationary workers across 18 agencies in a case brought by 19 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C.
The Justice Department, in urging the Supreme Court to intervene, accused Alsup of attempting to “hijack the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce,” arguing the injunction violated the Constitution’s separation of powers by interfering with executive personnel decisions.
After the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to pause Alsup’s order on March 26, the DOJ sought emergency relief from the Supreme Court, which granted the Trump administration’s request on Tuesday.
UNIONS URGE SUPREME COURT TO UPHOLD REINSTATEMENT OF 16,000 FIRED FEDERAL WORKERS
Alsup also criticized the administration’s initial response to his order, faulting officials for placing employees on administrative leave rather than returning them to active duty. The Justice Department countered that the move was a necessary step in the reinstatement process and not an attempt to sidestep the judge’s order.
The broader legal fight over federal employment authority under Trump’s reforms is expected to continue across multiple jurisdictions in the coming weeks.
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