The Supreme Court has granted the Trump administration permission to move forward with significant staff reductions at various federal agencies. This decision comes as challengers attempt to halt these actions through ongoing lower-court litigation.
This ruling by the Supreme Court does not settle the broader legal questions surrounding the cuts, which are the subject of a lawsuit initiated by labor unions representing government employees, along with several U.S. cities and counties.
Further examination of this issue is anticipated as the court plans to deliberate at a later date.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter among the nine justices, opposing the ruling that lifted a federal district court’s May injunction prohibiting reductions in force at 19 federal entities.
Jackson expressed her concerns in her dissent, stating, “In my view, this was the wrong decision at the wrong moment, especially given what little this Court knows about what is actually happening on the ground.”
She noted, “This case is about whether that action amounts to a structural overhaul that usurps Congress’s policymaking prerogatives — and it is hard to imagine deciding that question in any meaningful way after those changes have happened.”
Jackson remarked, “Yet, for some reason, this Court sees fit to step in now and release the President’s wrecking ball at the outset of this litigation.”
In February, President Donald Trump issued an executive order instructing federal agencies to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reduction in force (RIFs), consistent with applicable law.”
Representing the Trump administration in a Supreme Court filing, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asserted that the executive order was grounded in solid legal precedent and aligned with a long-standing historical tradition.
Sauer stated, “For at least about 150 years, Congress has recognized the Executive Branch’s authority to carry out reductions in its workforce as the need arises, subject to statutory preferences for veteran status and other factors.”
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