Judge Halts Trump Admin’s Plan to Fire Workers Amid Shutdown
A US federal judge on Wednesday issued a temporary injunction against President Donald Trump’s administration, preventing the dismissal of workers amid the government shutdown. The judge remarked that the layoffs seemed to be driven by political motives and were executed with insufficient consideration. US District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco persistently questioned the assistant US attorney regarding the administration’s reasoning behind the issuance of over 4,100 layoff notices that began on Friday, despite the fact that furloughed workers are unable to access their work emails and there are no human resources specialists available to guide them on the next steps. “It is very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programmes, and it has a human cost,” she stated. “It is a human cost that cannot be tolerated.” She issued a temporary restraining order to halt the job cuts, expressing her belief that the evidence would eventually demonstrate that the cuts were unlawful and beyond the scope of authority.
The budget office has yet to provide a response to the request for comment. The American Federation of Government Employees, along with other federal labor unions, requested that Illston prevent the administration from issuing new layoff notices and from carrying out those that had already been sent. The unions asserted that the firings constituted an abuse of power aimed at punishing workers and exerting pressure on Congress. “The president seems to think his government shutdown is distracting people from the harmful and lawlessness actions of his administration, but the American people are holding him accountable, including in the courts,” said Skye Perryman. “Our civil servants perform the essential work for the people, and to toy with their livelihoods is both cruel and unlawful, posing a threat to all in our nation.” Illston’s order arrived as the shutdown, which commenced on October 1, progressed into its third week.
Democratic lawmakers are insisting that any agreement to reopen the federal government must include provisions for their healthcare demands. Mike Johnson forecasted that the shutdown could potentially become the longest in history, asserting that he “will not negotiate” with Democrats until they pause those demands and reopen. Democrats have called for the extension of healthcare subsidies, initially established in 2021 and prolonged the following year. They also seek to have any government funding bill reverse the Medicaid cuts implemented in Trump’s significant tax breaks and spending cuts bill that was passed this summer. The Trump administration has allocated funds to the military and intensified its efforts on immigration enforcement, all while reducing positions in health and education sectors, notably in special education and after-school programs. Trump stated that programs favored by Democrats are being targeted and “they are never going to come back, in many cases”.
In a court filing, the administration stated its intention to terminate over 4,100 employees across eight agencies. In a related case, Illston had prevented the administration from implementing many of its strategies to decrease the size of the federal workforce. However, the Supreme Court stated that the administration may proceed with terminating employees while the lawsuit remains unresolved. The unions assert that the layoff notices represent an unlawful effort at political coercion and retaliation, founded on the erroneous assumption that a temporary funding lapse negates Congress’ authorization of agency programs. In court on Wednesday, Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Hedges stated that the district court does not have the jurisdiction to review employment decisions made by federal agencies. Under the judge’s prompting, Hedges stated that she was not ready to address the merits of the case, but rather to provide reasons against the issuance of a temporary restraining order.
