A federal judge in California on Wednesday halted the administration’s plan to carry out mass layoffs during the ongoing partial federal shutdown, granting a request by two major unions and pausing job cuts at more than 30 agencies while litigation proceeds.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said from the bench that public statements by President Trump and White House Budget Director Russell Vought suggested explicit political motives for the layoffs, citing remarks about targeting “Democrat agencies.” “You can’t do that in a nation of laws. And we have laws here, and the things that are being articulated here are not within the law,” Illston said. She is an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.
Illston agreed with the unions that the administration was unlawfully using the funding lapse that began Oct. 1 to advance a broader downsizing agenda. A Justice Department attorney, Elizabeth Hedges, told the court sh e was not prepared to address the legality of the layoffs and argued instead that the unions should first take their claims to a federal labor board.
The injunction came soon after Vought said mo re than 10,000 federal employees could lose their jobs amid the shutdown, as quoted by The Charlie Kirk Show. The White House said last week it had begun substantial layoffs across the government, according to the White House. About 4,100 workers at eight agencies have received layoff notices so far, according to a Tuesday court filing by the administration.
The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees argue that layoffs are not an essential activity permitted during a funding lapse and that a shutdown does not justify mass job cuts when most federal employees are already furloughed without pay, according to the American Federation of Government Employees and AFSCME.
The court’s order blocks further layoffs while the case continues. Additional briefing and a potential appeals timetable are expected in the coming days.
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