The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed the Trump administration a victory, overturning a lower court decision that paused layoff plans across much of the government.
The unsigned order issued by the court stayed the preliminary injunction put in place by a federal judge in California in May, which halted the administration’s plans to lay off employees and restructure federal agencies.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene, contending that the district court’s injunction “bars nearly the entire Executive Branch” — including 19 agencies and 11 Cabinet departments — from moving forward with plans to “execute lawful reductions in the size of the federal workforce.”
The Supreme Court said that the district court’s injunction “was based on its view that” a White House executive order and a memo implementing that executive order “are unlawful. 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 Supreme Court order said the justices expressed no view on the legality of agency layoffs or reorganization plans themselves, which are not before the court.
The injunction came after employee unions, environmentalists and others sued the administration, contending that it was illegally slashing the government without the necessary support from Congress.
“Today’s decision has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy,” the coalition of groups that brought the lawsuit said Tuesday in a joint statement. “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.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a dissent, saying the lower court decision to impose a “temporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this Court’s demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture.”
Reporters Niina Farah and Lesley Clark contributed.
