Judge halts Trump’s federal worker layoffs during government shutdown
A federal judge has issued an emergency order to temporarily stop the Trump management’s permanent layoffs of federal workers amid the government shutdown. The administration had been threatening mass federal employee layoffs to pressure Democrats into ending the shutdown on terms favorable to the White House.U.S. District Judge susan Illston, appointed by former President Bill clinton, sided with two unions suing to block the firings, calling the layoffs illegal, excessive, and possibly politically motivated. She criticized the administration for disregarding legal limits during the funding lapse and highlighted the human cost of these actions. The Justice Department is expected to appeal the ruling. Meanwhile, the White House had announced that reduction-in-force notices to furloughed workers had begun, with President Trump indicating the layoffs would mainly affect “Democrat-oriented” employees.
Judge halts Trump’s federal worker layoffs during government shutdown
A federal judge issued an emergency order to temporarily halt the Trump administration’s permanent layoffs of federal workers.
The Trump administration has used threats of mass layoffs of government workers as one of its key pieces of leverage against Democrats in an effort to force an end to the government shutdown on favorable terms. On Wednesday, Susan Illston, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, sided with two unions suing the administration to prevent the firings.
“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a human cost,” she said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”
The Trump administration, Illston argued, has “taken advantage of the lapse in government spending, in government functioning, to assume that all bets are off, that the laws don’t apply to them anymore.”
“I believe that the plaintiffs will demonstrate, ultimately, that what’s being done here is both illegal and is in excess of authority,” she continued, adding that some of the firings seemed “politically motivated.”
Illston also argued with the Justice Department lawyer, who only wanted to discuss the proper forum for challenging the firings, rather than the legality of the firings themselves.
Illston is an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.
President Donald Trump’s DOJ is almost certain to appeal the decision.
WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WORKER LAYOFFS HAVE BEGUN
White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought announced Friday that the anticipated reduction-in-force notices to furloughed workers had begun.
“It will be a lot of people,” Trump said Friday when asked how many layoffs Vought authorized. He added that the RIFs will be “Democrat-oriented,” a statement union lawyers likely used to their advantage during deliberations.
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