The US Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the Trump administration in blocking a lower court order that required the government to rehire over 16,000 probationary federal workers who were dismissed as part of US President Donald Trump’s sweeping efforts to shrink the federal workforce.
The brief order halted a ruling by US district judge William Alsup in California, which had directed six federal agencies to reinstate thousands of employees while a legal challenge plays out.
As per news agency Associated Press, the justices based their decision on a technical legal issue, stating that several nonprofit groups that had sued lacked standing. Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented and said they would have kept the judge’s order in place.
Criticising the decision, Jackson said the administration had not shown enough urgency to justify the Supreme Court’s intervention before the lower courts fully examined the case.
The mass terminations affected workers at the departments of defense, veterans affairs, agriculture, energy, the interior and the treasury.
Judge Alsup, who was appointed by former US President Bill Clinton, found that the US office of personnel management (OPM) had improperly orchestrated the firings without following lawful procedures. “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 remarked.
However, the Supreme Court did not rule on whether the firings were lawful, nor did it weigh in on whether the employees should ultimately be reinstated. It only determined that the nonprofits who brought the case lacked the legal standing necessary to obtain a nationwide injunction.
The administration, backed by solicitor general D John Sauer, argued that the federal agencies had individually reviewed and decided on the terminations.
According to The New York Times, in its emergency filing, the Justice Department described Alsup’s ruling as part of “an untenable trend” of judicial interference that creates “chaos” and undermines executive authority.
Despite Tuesday’s ruling, a similar reinstatement order remains in effect from a federal judge in Maryland, covering employees in 19 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia. As per AP, that order is more limited but still applies to the same six departments and about a dozen more agencies.
The coalition of nonprofits and labour unions behind the lawsuits expressed disappointment but vowed to continue the legal fight. “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 group said in a statement.
Since Trump’s return to office, he and advisor Elon Musk have pushed an aggressive agenda to reduce the size of government, in part by targeting probationary employees who are more vulnerable to termination.
At least 24,000 federal workers have been fired under these measures, according to court filings, though the administration has not publicly confirmed the total.
