Judge blocks shutdown layoffs after finding Trump's actions are likely illegal

Updated Oct. 15 at 5:17 p.m.

A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from implementing any new or existing layoffs in relation to the shutdown, saying the cuts were likely illegal. 

The Trump administration was using the shutdown to determine that “the laws don’t apply to them anymore,” California-based U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said during a hearing, and to pick and choose which parts of the government it wants to permanently eliminate. She called guidance that the Office of Management and Budget issued prior to the funding lapse instructing agencies to make reductions at programs that no longer have authorized funding “completely untrue.” 

The Trump administration has “taken advantage of the lapse in government spending, in government functioning, to to assume that that all bets are off, that the laws don't apply to them anymore,” Illston said, “and that they can impose the structures that they like on a government situation that they don't like. And I believe that the plaintiffs will demonstrate ultimately that what's being done here is both illegal and is in excess of authority.” 

Much to Illston’s dismay, Elizabeth Hedges, a Justice Department attorney arguing on behalf of the administration, declined to say whether the government thought the reductions in force were legal. Hedges repeatedly told the judge she was not prepared to make an argument on the merits of the case, instead only arguing that the district court was not the proper forum for the case and that not-yet-implemented layoffs could not be challenged. 

“This hatchet is falling on the heads of employees all across the nation, and you're not even prepared to address whether that's legal?” Illston asked. 

Hedges responded that was correct. 

Earlier this year and well before the shutdown, Illston issued a separate injunction against the Trump administration barring it from carrying out widespread layoffs across the government. OMB and the Office of Personnel Management were unlawfully directing those RIFs, Illston said, though the Supreme Court ultimately overturned that finding. It did so by saying the government was likely to win on the merits. 

In the current case, Illston said the administration was carrying out RIFs without proper procedures and in ways “contrary to the laws.”

“They're overturning the agency mandates that Congress has put in place,” Illston said. “They can't do that.”

The Trump administration laid off around 4,000 people on Friday across seven agencies. The cuts followed through on a threat from Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought to inflict pain on the federal workforce as a consequence of the government shutdown. Both Trump and Vought said more layoffs are coming, with notices landing as soon as Friday. 

Those layoffs are now enjoined from implementation for at least two weeks, though they generally were not set to take effect for 60 days. The administration cannot take any steps to implement new RIFs “during or because of the shutdown” during the same period. Within the next two weeks, Illston will hold another hearing to determine whether to implement a longer-term injunction. 

Illston issued her ruling orally from the bench, but said a more formal written order was forthcoming. Her order applies to any agency or office in which the plaintiff unions have members.

The layoffs, the judge said, are taking a “human toll that cannot be tolerated.” 

Hedges, the Justice attorney, argued the plaintiffs must take their case to the Merit System Protection Board or the Federal Labor Relations Authority. She also said it was not the appropriate timing for the lawsuit, as agencies have not yet decided where or whether to implement layoffs. 

Danielle Leonard, an attorney for the coalition of unions and advocacy groups that brought the lawsuit, noted that Vought and Trump have repeatedly stated they have decided which programs and employees to cut. Those decisions are therefore challengeable, Leonard said, even if they have not yet been implemented. She added OMB said on Tuesday that it was making preparations to issue more RIFs, and Trump said on Friday he would permanently cut programs favored by Democrats. Vought told The Charlie Kirk Show on Wednesday that he expected the administration to lay off more than 10,000 employees during the shutdown. 

Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, which helped bring the lawsuit, said her organization was holding Trump accountable despite his assumption that the "shutdown is distracting people from his lawlessness." 

“Civil servants do the work of the people, and playing games with their livelihoods is cruel and unlawful," Perryman said. "We are gratified by the court’s decision and will continue to go to court to stop abuses of power and protect the American people.”  

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which spearheaded the case, also applauded the decision. 

"We are pleased with the court’s ruling halting these unlawful terminations and preventing the administration from further targeting hardworking civil servants during the shutdown," Kelley said. 

This story has been updated with additional comment.