The Trump administration must halt much of its dramatic downsizing of the federal workforce, a California judge ordered Friday. San Francisco Judge Susan Illston issued the emergency order in a lawsuit filed last week by labor unions and cities, one of multiple legal challenges to President Trump's efforts to shrink the size of a federal government he calls bloated and expensive, per the AP. 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 Government Efficiency and the Office of Personnel Management.
The order, which expires in 14 days, doesn't require departments to rehire people. Plaintiffs asked 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 Department of Health and Human Services, which announced in March it will lay off 10,000 workers and centralize divisions.
In her order, Illston gave several examples to show the impact of the downsizing. One union that represents federal workers who research health hazards faced by mine workers said it was poised to lose 221 of 222 workers in its Pittsburgh office. Meanwhile, a reduction in Social Security Administration workers has led to longer wait times for recipients. All agencies impacted were created by Congress, Illston noted. Government lawyers argued Friday that the executive order and memo calling for large-scale personnel reductions and reorg plans provided only general principles that agencies should follow in exercising their own decision-making process.
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Some of the departments under the temporary restraining order include the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Interior, State, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the National Science Foundation, SBA, SSA, and EPA. Illston, who was nominated to the bench by former Democratic President Clinton, said at a hearing on 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 ways. ... He must do so with the cooperation of Congress, the Constitution is structured that way." More here.
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