SCOTUS Allows Trump To Continue Gutting Federal Government With Mass Layoffs
The Supreme Court Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump to proceed with slashing the federal workforce through mass layoffs as part of an effort to transform the executive branch in his image.
In another major legal win for Trump from SCOTUS, the court granted the Trump administration’s request to lift a lower court order preventing federal agencies from making plans for large-scale federal layoffs called “reductions in force.”
At the center of the case is a memo sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) directing federal agencies to develop agency reorganization plans using reductions in force.
The memo was prompted by an executive order from Trump mandating a “critical transformation” of the federal government.
In a lawsuit, a coalition of labor unions, non-profits and local governments alleged that OPM violated federal law in ordering agencies to carry out reductions in force.
Federal Judge Susan Illston, who was appointed by former President Bill Clinton, sided with the plaintiffs and ordered a temporary pause on the mass layoffs as litigation continued, saying that Trump exceeded his authority in ordering the downsizing.
“As history demonstrates, the President may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress,” Illston wrote.
Tuesday, the Supreme Court said the government was likely to succeed in its argument that both Trump’s order and the OPM’s memo were lawful, though it would not weigh in on the legality of mass layoffs at specific agencies.
“We express no view on the legality of any Agency [reductions in force] and Reorganization Plan produced or approved pursuant to the Executive Order and Memorandum,” the court said.
The court offered no explanation on why it believed Trump’s order and the OPM’s memo are likely lawful.
In a scathing dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the court’s decision was “not only truly unfortunate but also hubristic and senseless.”
“At bottom, this case is about whether that action amounts to a structural overhaul that usurps Congress’s policymaking prerogatives—and it is hard to imagine deciding that question in any meaningful way after those changes have happened,” Jackson wrote.
“I see no basis to conclude that the District Court erred—let alone clearly so—in finding that the President is attempting to fundamentally restructure the Federal Government,” she added.
In a statement after the Supreme Court’s ruling, the coalition of plaintiffs said SCOTUS “has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy.”
“This decision does not change the simple and clear fact that reorganizing government functions and laying off federal workers en masse haphazardly without any congressional approval is not allowed by our Constitution,” it said. “While we are disappointed in this decision, we will continue to fight.”
Other federal judges also found that Trump and the OPM exceeded their authorities by attempting to fire federal workers en masse.
This story has been updated with additional information.