Trump administration officials are anxious to resume sweeping layoffs inside energy and environmental agencies as they push the Supreme Court to green-light their plans.
The administration’s push for large-scale layoffs are on hold across much of the government due to a lower court’s sweeping order. But the administration — arguing that it’s being forced to keep “large numbers of employees on the payroll without necessity” — is making a case to the Supreme Court that it ought to urgently intervene to allow those layoffs to proceed.
The Trump administration on Tuesday submitted its latest plea to the Supreme Court, saying that the lower court’s injunction has caused “confusion and paralysis” within the executive branch and that agencies are being blocked “from taking needed steps to make the federal government and workforce more efficient.”
The Justice Department previously told the Supreme Court in its June 2 request that 40 reductions in force in 17 agencies had been paused by the court. The layoffs put on hold by the court include staff reductions expected at EPA and the Interior and Energy departments.
