A federal judge has indefinitely blocked President Trump’s efforts to lay off thousands of federal employees amid the government shutdown.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, an appointee of former President Clinton, sided with government employee unions that asked her to bar the administration from carrying out the reductions in force (RIFs) as the lawsuit moves forward. More than 4,000 workers were set to be impacted by the job actions.
The preliminary injunction extends Illston’s previous order temporarily stopping the administration’s attempted layoffs, which she has said she believes will ultimately be deemed illegal and an overstep of executive authority.
The White House referred a request for comment to the Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Hill.
The ruling, issued from the bench, comes a day after one of the unions who sued publicly called for an end to the government shutdown.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing federal workers, urged Congress to pass a clean continuing resolution and end the shutdown Monday.
“Both political parties have made their point, and still there is no clear end in sight,” said Everett Kelly, AFGE’s national president.
Nonetheless, Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked the House-passed bill to reopen the federal government for the 13th time.
The unions sued just before the shutdown began. They say that the Trump administration’s plan to implement permanent firings instead of temporary furloughs with later back pay is unlawful.
The roughly 4,100 planned layoffs could also only be the beginning.
OMB Director Russell Vought said earlier this month that the administration could ultimately lay off more than 10,000 federal employees during the shutdown.
The Justice Department has so far declined to offer a legal defense of the planned layoffs, instead contending that agency adjudicators like the Merit Systems Protection Board are better suited to remedy the harms at play than courts.
Another union that sued, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said after the ruling that it marked a victory for federal workers and ongoing efforts “to protect their jobs from an administration hellbent on illegally firing them.”
“Unlike the billionaires in this administration, public service workers dedicate themselves to serving their communities.” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “These attempted mass firings would devastate both the workers and the people they serve.”
Skye Perryman, CEO and president of the left-leaning legal group Democracy Forward, which represents two of the unions, celebrated the ruling in a statement.
“This order is positive for the American people and a major blow to the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful attempt to make the Project 2025 playbook a reality by targeting our nation’s career public servants, who work for all Americans,” Perryman said.
Updated at 3:48 p.m. EDT
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