The Supreme Court on April 8 blocked a lower court order that mandated the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of federal employees who were let go in mass firings meant to downsize the federal government.
Trump asked the high court to intervene after a lower court judge ordered the administration to reinstate thousands of probationary workers to their jobs after they were terminated earlier this year.
In response, the Supreme Court made a narrow determination focused on the right, or standing, of several nonprofit associations to sue over the firings. The high court’s order will keep probationary employees in six federal agencies on paid administrative leave for now.
Supreme Court Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor dissented, writing that they would have denied the Trump administration’s petition to overturn the lower court order.
Although Sotomayor did not explain why she would deny the petition, Jackson wrote that the Trump administration did not provide arguments showing urgency as needed to compel the Supreme Court to intervene.
A group of unions that are challenging the Trump administration’s decision to fire the workers argued that other courts have allowed federal employees to be reinstated or have blocked related decisions, according to court papers submitted to the Supreme Court earlier this month.
“The Government illegally fired tens of thousands of public servants, significantly degrading crucial services on which the public and members of Respondent organizations rely,” their petition said. “The Government makes no showing of any irreparable harm and just told the district court that it has already substantially complied with the preliminary injunction.”
They also contended that the administration was incorrect in arguing “that no one can challenge the illegal mass firing of federal employees” by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which effectively is the federal government’s human resources arm, and attempted to refute claims that “the only way to challenge termination of federal employees is by individual employee claims” before the Merit Systems Protection Board.
In February, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that the terminations were improperly directed by the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director. He ordered rehiring at the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior, and the Treasury.
Alsup said in court that he believes the government is attempting to circumvent laws by firing probationary workers.
In appealing the decision, the Trump administration argued in its emergency petition to the Supreme Court that courts lack the authority to block “federal workplace reforms at the behest of anyone who wishes to retain particular levels of general government services.”
Federal agencies themselves directed the firings, and they “have since decided to stand by those terminations,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court on behalf of the administration.
A second lawsuit, filed in Maryland, also resulted in an order blocking the firings at those same six agencies, plus roughly a dozen more. That order only applies in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that sued the administration.
The Justice Department is separately appealing the Maryland order.
