Overview
- A three-judge 9th Circuit panel lifted U.S. District Judge James Donato’s June injunction, allowing President Trump’s March executive order to move forward.
- The order invokes the Civil Service Reform Act’s national security exception to exempt agencies with intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative or national security roles from collective bargaining.
- The appellate panel concluded the order shows no retaliatory animus and agreed the president “would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct.”
- The American Federation of Government Employees and five other federal unions condemned the decision as a setback for First Amendment rights and signaled plans to pursue further appeals.
- If upheld, the order would mark the largest rollback of federal union protections since 1978, enabling agencies to alter working conditions and limit unions’ ability to challenge policies in court.