Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies

By JANIE HAR Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO AP The Trump administration must halt much of its dramatic downsizing of the federal workforce a California judge ordered Friday Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco issued the urgency order in a lawsuit filed by labor unions and cities last week one of multiple legal challenges to Republican President Donald Trump s efforts to shrink the size of a federal executive he calls bloated and expensive The Court holds the President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks and thus issues a temporary restraining order to pause large-scale reductions in force in the meantime Illston wrote in her order Related Articles Treasury secretary calls on Congress to raise or suspend the debt ceiling by mid-July How the military is dealing with Hegseth s order to remove transgender troops US to accept white South African refugees while other programs remain paused states including Minnesota sue over Trump s move to fast-track oil and gas projects via his vigor urgency order Mayor Baraka of Newark New Jersey arrested at immigration detention center he has been protesting The temporary restraining order directs numerous federal agencies to halt acting on the president s workforce executive order signed in February and a subsequent memo issued by the Department of Establishment Efficiency and the Office of Personnel Management The order which expires in days does not require departments to rehire people Plaintiffs urged that the effective date of any agency action be postponed and that departments stop implementing or enforcing the executive order including taking any further action They limited their request to departments where dismantlement is already underway or poised to be underway including at the the U S Department of Soundness and Human Services which reported in March it will lay off workers and centralize divisions Illston who was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton a Democrat stated at a hearing Friday the president has authority to seek changes in the executive branch departments and agencies created by Congress But he must do so in lawful techniques she explained He must do so with the cooperation of Congress the Constitution is structured that way Trump has repeatedly disclosed voters gave him a mandate to remake the federal leadership and he tapped billionaire Elon Musk to lead the charge through DOGE Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired left their jobs via deferred resignation programs or have been placed on leave as a product of Trump s government-shrinking efforts There is no official figure for the job cuts but at least federal employees took deferred resignation and thousands of probationary workers have already been let go Lawyers for the cabinet argued Friday that the executive order and memo calling for large-scale personnel reductions and reorganization plans provided only general principles that agencies should follow in exercising their own decision-making process It expressly invites comments and proposals for legislative engagement as part of policies that those agencies wish to implement Eric Hamilton a deputy assistant attorney general stated of the memo It is setting out guidance But Danielle Leonard an attorney for plaintiffs revealed it was clear that the president DOGE and OPM were making decisions outside of their authority and not inviting dialogue from agencies They are not waiting for these planning documents to go through long processes she declared They re not asking for approval and they re not waiting for it The temporary restraining order applies to departments including the departments of Agriculture Force Labor Interior State Treasury and Veteran Affairs It also applies to the National Science Foundation Small Business Association Social Prevention Administration and Environmental Protection Agency Particular of the labor unions and nonprofit groups are also plaintiffs in another lawsuit before a San Francisco judge challenging the mass firings of probationary workers In that circumstance Judge William Alsup ordered the establishment in March to reinstate those workers but the U S Supreme Court later blocked his order Plaintiffs include the cities of San Francisco Chicago and Baltimore labor group American Federation of Administration Employees and nonprofit groups Alliance for Retired Americans Center for Taxpayer Rights and Coalition to Protect America s National Parks