Executive Summary
The Story So Far
Why This Matters
Who Thinks What?
A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt its efforts to lay off approximately 4,100 federal workers amidst the ongoing government shutdown, declaring the move unlawful and politically motivated. The ruling, issued on Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, came in response to an emergency request from unions representing federal employees who argued the layoffs were an illegal use of the lapse in government funding.
Judicial Ruling and Rationale
Judge Illston granted a temporary restraining order, pausing the layoffs that had commenced last Friday. She stated during the hearing that the administration appeared to have “taken advantage of the lapse in government spending, in government functioning, to assume that that all bets are off, that the laws don’t apply to them anymore.” The order specifically bars the administration from proceeding with layoffs or issuing new notices for members of the unions involved in the lawsuit, remaining in effect as the legal challenge unfolds.
The judge further indicated her belief that the planned layoffs were impermissible, in part, due to their “politically motivated” nature. She cited statements by President Trump suggesting that officials were targeting programs and agencies often favored by Democrats. Illston emphasized that established laws govern “reductions in force” and that the administration’s actions were contrary to these regulations.
Administration’s Layoff Plans
The Trump administration began issuing “reduction in force,” or RIF, notices to about 4,100 employees across multiple agencies after a late September memo instructed agencies to prepare for mass layoffs if the government shut down, which occurred on October 1. Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought had previously indicated that the administration intended to implement further layoffs, potentially reaching “north of 10,000” people.
Vought articulated the administration’s desire to be “very aggressive where we can be in shuttering the bureaucracy — not just the funding,” viewing the shutdown as an “opportunity to do that.” The RIF process itself experienced significant disorganization, including hundreds of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees mistakenly receiving layoff notices, which the agency later attributed to “data discrepancies and processing errors.”
Beyond the Department of Health and Human Services, where the CDC is housed, RIF notices were also distributed to thousands of workers at the Departments of Commerce, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security, and Treasury. Additionally, nearly 200 Department of Energy staffers received general RIF notices, and over two dozen Environmental Protection Agency employees received “intent to RIF” notices, though a final decision on their employment status had not yet been made.
Immediate Impact
The federal judge’s order immediately halts the Trump administration’s plans to furlough thousands of federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown. This ruling marks a significant legal challenge to the administration’s handling of the federal workforce during a lapse in appropriations.