A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has cleared the way for President Donald Trump to proceed with large-scale firings of federal employees. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper declined the unions’ request to impose a temporary halt on the layoffs, reasoning that the unions’ complaint constitutes an employment issue that must go through a different channel laid out in federal employment regulations.
Judge Cooper recognized that the current Republican president’s second term has been marked by a flurry of executive actions that some believe have intentionally stirred chaos and disruption across many sectors of American life. However, despite his own political background—being appointed by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat—Cooper stated that it is the judiciary’s responsibility to address legal matters through an objective lens, adhering strictly to the law and existing legal precedents, regardless of who is involved in the case or the potential impact of their decisions on everyday people.
This ruling arrives amid sweeping job terminations affecting thousands of federal employees in the early weeks of Trump’s second term. The administration argued in court that the unions had not sufficiently demonstrated the immediate and irreparable harm necessary to warrant an emergency injunction stopping the layoffs.
The unions, which represent hundreds of thousands of federal workers, argue that Trump’s initiative to reduce the federal workforce encroaches on Congress’s authority to determine the scope and direction of agencies through budgetary decisions, as well as laws that stipulate how layoffs should be conducted.
Doreen Greenwald, the president of the National Treasury Employees’ Union, expressed that the ruling was merely a temporary hurdle. She emphasized that federal employees will have the opportunity to contest the mass firings and other threats to their employment, agencies, and dedication to public service.
The lawsuit is one of over 80 that challenge various actions taken by Trump in response to his surge of executive orders. Additionally, unions have launched a separate lawsuit to address mass firings occurring in California this week.
