SCOTUS Greenlights Trump Plans For ‘Large-Scale’ Firings At Federal Agencies
The U.S. Supreme Court delivered another win for President Donald Trump, clearing the way for his executive order to downsize the bloated federal government through mass layoffs across multiple agencies.
In an unsigned order, the justices overruled a lower court decision that had blocked the president’s February 13 directive calling for “large-scale reductions in force.” That freeze came from Clinton-appointed Judge Susan Illston in Northern California, but the Supreme Court said her ruling was based on her personal view of the order’s legality, not on the actual reorganization plans, which weren’t even before the court.
“Because the Government is likely to succeed on its argument that the Executive Order and Memorandum are lawful — and because the other factors bearing on whether to grant a stay are satisfied — we grant the application,” the court said.
Even liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor joined the majority in granting the stay, though she made it clear she wasn’t endorsing the downsizing effort itself—just that it was too soon to block it.
“I join the Court’s stay because it leaves the District Court free to consider those questions in the first instance,” she wrote. “The plans themselves are not before this Court, at this stage.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented, blasting the decision and claiming it could lead to “mass employee terminations, widespread cancellation of federal programs and services, and the dismantling of much of the Federal Government as Congress has created it.”