A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out layoffs of thousands of federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown. The ruling comes less than a week after the administration confirmed that several agencies had begun laying off about 4,000 employees. US District Judge Susan Illston granted the unions’ request to block layoffs at more than 30 agencies, agreeing that the administration was unlawfully using the funding lapse, which began on 1 October, to downsize the federal workforce.
Judge Illston cited public statements by President Donald Trump and White House budget chief Russell Vought as evidence of political motivation for the planned layoffs, including comments suggesting cuts would target “Democrat agencies.” The Department of Justice argued that the unions should first bring their claims to a federal labor board, and the administration is expected to appeal the restraining order.
Prior to the court ruling, major departments such as Treasury and Health and Human Services (HHS) had begun notifying employees of potential layoffs. Homeland Security planned cuts at its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, while the Office of Management and Budget revealed that more than a quarter of cuts were to occur at Treasury, affecting approximately 1,446 employees, and HHS was notifying around 1,100 to 1,200 employees. The Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development planned to lay off at least 400 employees each, while other departments like Commerce, Energy, and Homeland Security planned smaller cuts ranging from 176 to 315 employees. Vought indicated that the total number of federal layoffs could exceed 10,000 during the shutdown.
In response to statements from Trump and Vought about potential firings, the American Federation of Government Employees and AFL-CIO filed a lawsuit and requested an emergency restraining order. They argued that implementing layoffs is not an essential service during a funding lapse and that the shutdown does not justify mass firings, since most federal employees have already been furloughed without pay.
The federal shutdown, now in its third week, continues as the US Senate has repeatedly failed to pass a resolution to reopen the government, with Republicans blaming Democrats for blocking a “clean” funding bill and Democrats seeking measures addressing rising healthcare costs for low-income Americans.
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