Justices lift lower court order that froze \u2018reductions in force\u2019 federal layoffs while litigation in case proceeded<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US supreme court<\/a> has cleared the way for Donald Trump\u2019s administration<\/a> to resume plans for mass firings of federal workers that critics warn could threaten critical government services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Extending a winning streak for the US president, the justices on Tuesday<\/a> lifted a lower court order that had frozen sweeping federal layoffs known as \u201creductions in force\u201d while litigation in the case proceeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision could result in hundreds of thousands of job losses at the departments of agriculture, commerce, health and human services, state, treasury, veterans affairs and other agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats condemned the ruling. Antjuan Seawright, a party strategist, said: \u201cI\u2019m disappointed but I\u2019m not shocked or surprised. This rightwing activist court has proven ruling after ruling, time after time, that they are going to sing the songs and dance to the tune of Trumpism. A lot of this is just implementation of what we saw previewed in Project 2025<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Project 2025, a plan drawn up by the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank, set out a blueprint for downsizing government. Trump has claimed that voters gave him a mandate for the effort and he tapped billionaire ally Elon Musk to lead the charge through the \u201cdepartment of government efficiency\u201d, or Doge, though Musk has since departed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In February, Trump announced \u201ca critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy\u201d in an executive order directing agencies to prepare for a government overhaul aimed at significantly reducing the workforce and gutting offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In its brief unsigned order on Tuesday, the supreme court said Trump\u2019s administration was \u201clikely to succeed on its argument that the executive order\u201d and a memorandum implementing his order were lawful. The court said it was not assessing the legality of any specific plans for layoffs at federal agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ketanji Brown Jackson, the liberal justice, was the sole member of the nine-person court to publicly dissent from the decision, which overturns San Francisco-based district Judge Susan Illston\u2019s 22 May ruling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jackson wrote that Illston\u2019s \u201ctemporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this court\u2019s demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this president\u2019s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also described her colleagues as making the \u201cwrong decision at the wrong moment, especially given what little this Court knows about what is actually happening on the ground\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Illston had argued in her ruling that Trump had exceeded his authority in ordering the downsizing, siding with a group of unions, non-profits and local governments that challenged the administration. \u201cAs history demonstrates, the president may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The judge blocked the agencies from carrying out mass layoffs and limited their ability to cut or overhaul federal programmes. Illston also ordered the reinstatement of workers who had lost their jobs, though she delayed implementing this portion of her ruling while the appeals process plays out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Illston\u2019s ruling was the broadest of its kind against the government overhaul pursued by Trump and Doge. Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, have left their jobs via deferred resignation programmes or have been placed on leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The administration had previously challenged Illston\u2019s order at the San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals but lost in a 2-1 ruling on 30 May. That prompted the justice department to make an emergency request to the supreme court, contending that controlling the personnel of federal agencies \u201clies at the heartland\u201d of the president\u2019s executive branch authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The plaintiffs had urged the supreme court to deny the justice department\u2019s request. Allowing the Trump administration<\/a> to move forward with its \u201cbreakneck reorganization\u201d, they wrote, would mean that \u201cprograms, offices and functions across the federal government will be abolished, agencies will be radically downsized from what Congress authorized, critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will lose their jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The supreme court\u2019s rejection of that argument on Tuesday was welcomed by Trump allies. Pam Bondi, the attorney general, posted on the X social media platform<\/a>: \u201cToday, the Supreme Court stopped lawless lower courts from restricting President Trump\u2019s authority over federal personnel \u2013 another Supreme Court victory thanks to @thejusticedept attorneys. Now, federal agencies can become more efficient than ever before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The state department wrote on X<\/a>: \u201cToday\u2019s near unanimous decision from the Supreme Court further confirms that the law was on our side throughout this entire process. We will continue to move forward with our historic reorganization plan at the State Department, as announced earlier this year. This is yet another testament to President Trump\u2019s dedication to following through on an America First agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In recent months the supreme court has sided with Trump in some major cases that were acted upon on an emergency basis since he returned to office in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It cleared the way for Trump\u2019s administration to resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without offering them a chance to show the harms they could face. In two cases, it let the administration end temporary legal status previously granted on humanitarian grounds to hundreds of thousands of migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also allowed Trump to implement his ban on transgender people in the US military, blocked a judge\u2019s order for the administration to rehire thousands of fired employees and twice sided with Doge. In addition, the court curbed the power of federal judges<\/a> to impose nationwide rulings impeding presidential policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Tuesday the Democracy Forward coalition condemned the supreme court for intervening in what it called Trump\u2019s unlawful reorganisation of the federal government. It said in a statement<\/a>: \u201cToday\u2019s decision has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n