- Around 4,100 workers were notified of layoffs during the shutdown.
- Two unions representing government employees filed suit.
- The judge says explicit political motivation is not permitted by law.
A federal judge in California on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to halt mass layoffs of federal workers during a partial government shutdown, while also examining unions’ claims that the job cuts are illegal.
At a hearing in San Francisco, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston granted two unions’ request to block layoffs at more than 30 federal agencies while the case moves forward.
The decision will likely be appealed quickly, but it offers reprieve for federal workers facing a nearly yearlong push from the Trump administration to thin their ranks.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House announced last week that it had begun mass layoffs across the U.S. government, as Trump made good on his threat to cut the federal workforce during the government shutdown, now in its 15th day. In an executive order issued Wednesday, Trump extended an existing freeze on hiring new federal workers, with exceptions for military personnel and political appointees.
About 4,100 workers at eight agencies have been notified of their layoffs so far, according to a filing Tuesday by the administration.
Illston’s decision came shortly after White House budget director Russell Vought said on “The Charlie Kirk Show” that more than 10,000 federal workers could lose their jobs due to the shutdown.
At the hearing, Illston cited a series of public statements from Trump and Vought that she said demonstrated explicit political motivations for the layoffs, such as Trump saying the budget cuts would target “Democratic agencies.”
“You can’t do that in a country of laws. And we have laws here, and the things that are laid out here are not in accordance with the law,” said Illston, appointed by former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
Judge demands details of dismissals
Democracy Forward, a legal group that represents unions, said Illston made clear that the president’s targeting of federal workers was illegal.
“Our public servants are doing the people’s work, and messing with their livelihoods is cruel and illegal and a threat to everyone in our country,” Skye Perryman, the group’s president and CEO, said in a statement.
Illston ordered the administration to provide by Friday an accounting of any “actual or threatened” layoffs and to describe the actions taken by agencies to comply with his decision.
A U.S. Justice Department lawyer, Elizabeth Hedges, said during the hearing that she was not prepared to address Illston’s concerns about the legality of the firings. Instead, she argued that unions must bring their demands to a federal labor board before they can pursue them in court.
Illston disagreed and criticized the Justice Department for refusing to take a position on the unions’ legal claims.
“The hatchet is falling on the heads of employees across the country, and you are not even willing to question whether this is legal,” she said.
The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees say the layoffs do not constitute an essential service that can be provided in the absence of government funding, and that the shutdown does not justify mass job cuts because most federal workers have been furloughed without pay.
Trump’s Republicans hold majorities in both houses of Congress but need at least seven Democratic votes to pass a funding bill in the Senate, where Democrats are awaiting an extension of health insurance subsidies. Democrats have said they will not give in to Trump’s pressure tactics, and a new attempt to pass a spending bill failed Wednesday.
