A federal judge on Wednesday said the Trump Administration violated her preliminary injunction pausing mass layoffs.
Last month US District Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, turned a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) into a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump Administration’s effort to overhaul and reorganize 20 agencies in the Executive Branch.
In February, President Trump implemented an executive order to completely overhaul the Executive Branch through the work of DOGE.
Judge Illston said in order for President Trump to make such large-scale overhauls, he needs approval from Congress.
The judge blocked any reduction-in-force (RIF) notices to workers in 20 federal agencies.
The judge’s preliminary injunction was in response to a lawsuit filed by the anti-American AFL-CIO and American Federation of Government Employees.
Judge Illston enjoined DOGE, the State Department, Treasury and other agencies.
On Wednesday Judge Illston ordered the Trump Administration to prove that the layoffs at the State Department and HUD don’t violate her injunction.
Bloomberg News reported:
The Trump administration appears to be flouting a court order halting mass government layoffs, a federal judge said Wednesday.
Judge Susan Illston of the US District Court for Northern California ordered the administration to prove by June 9 that two sets of layoffs—at the departments of State and Housing and Urban Development—do not violate a preliminary injunction issued by the court last month.
The order marks another setback for the Trump administration as it fights to cut the size of the government. Union plaintiffs told the court that the administration was violating a May 23 preliminary injunction halting the layoffs while the court challenge moves forward.
Illston largely rejected the government’s claim that the layoffs were separate from President Donald Trump’s downsizing order issued Feb. 11. The State Department layoffs were not part of the president’s widespread staff reduction plan, and were at the sole discretion of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Trump administration attorney, Andrew Bernie, told Illston. Forty planned layoffs at 17 other agencies had been halted, he said.
