Overview
- The 2-1 decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that 19 states and Washington, D.C., failed to show a judicially cognizable injury from the February mass terminations.
- The court vacated a Maryland judge’s injunction that had ordered reinstatement of affected workers in the plaintiff jurisdictions and directed the case to be dismissed.
- Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III wrote the majority opinion joined by Judge Allison Jones Rushing, while Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin dissented.
- The ruling clears the way for agencies to proceed with the terminations of probationary federal employees, which court filings and reports place at roughly 24,000 to 25,000.
- The decision follows earlier appellate stays and a Supreme Court order that paused a separate reinstatement ruling affecting about 16,000 probationary workers.