A Federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing its large-scale layoff plans – also known as reductions in force (RIFs) – across much of the Federal government.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued a temporary restraining order late Friday that pauses further implementation of President Donald Trump’s Feb. 11 executive order. That order instructed Federal agencies to make deep cuts to the Federal government’s civilian workforce via RIFs.
The ruling came after a Friday hearing in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions, nonprofits, and local governments. The plaintiffs argued that the president cannot lawfully implement RIFs without the participation of Congress.
“To make large-scale overhauls of federal agencies, any president must enlist the help of his co-equal branch and partner, the Congress,” Illston wrote in her ruling. “Federal courts should not micromanage the vast federal workforce, but courts must sometimes act to preserve the proper checks and balances between the three branches of government.”
Under the ruling, Federal agencies cannot issue any RIF notices through May 23. It also directs agencies to submit their layoff plans – which were required under the Trump executive order – to the court and the plaintiffs by Tuesday, May 13.
In issuing the temporary pause, Illston said, “The Court finds that plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of at least some of their claims. The irreparable harm that plaintiffs will suffer in the absence of injunctive relief outweighs any burden placed on the government by this two-week pause.”
The order applies to the Office of Management and Budget, Office of Personnel Management, and the Department of Government Efficiency, as well as the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Treasury, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs.
It also applies to the AmeriCorps, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, National Labor Relations Board, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, and Social Security Administration.
The court will hold a preliminary injunction hearing on May 22 to discuss a potentially longer pause to the RIF campaign.