A federal judge in California has ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to stop mass layoffs of federal workers during the ongoing government shutdown as she reviewed claims from unions that the move was illegal.
According to foreign media reports, District Judge Susan Illston made the decision during a hearing in San Francisco, where two unions sought an immediate halt to layoffs across more than 30 federal agencies.
The ruling provides temporary relief to thousands of workers affected by the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the federal workforce.
According to Reuters, the administration had already notified about 4,100 employees from eight agencies of their layoffs. The White House had also announced plans to expand job cuts nationwide, with Budget Director Russell Vought suggesting that more than 10,000 federal workers could lose their jobs because of the shutdown.
Judge Illston said statements from Trump and Vought showed clear political intent behind the cuts. She noted that targeting “Democrat agencies” violated US law. “You can’t do that in a nation of laws,” she said during the hearing.
Democracy Forward, the legal group representing the unions, welcomed the ruling. Its president, Skye Perryman, said that using workers’ livelihoods as political leverage was “cruel, unlawful and a threat to everyone in our nation.”
Illston instructed the administration to provide by Friday a detailed report on any ongoing or planned layoffs and explain how agencies will comply with her order.
A Justice Department lawyer at the hearing argued that the unions should first take their complaints to a federal labor board. However, the judge rejected that argument and criticised the department for not addressing the legality of the layoffs.
Reuters said that the unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, claimed that layoffs were not essential government functions during a funding lapse.
The partial shutdown entered its 15th day on Wednesday as Congress failed to reach a funding agreement. Democrats have refused to support a spending bill without an extension of health insurance subsidies while Trump has continued to push for workforce cuts.