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Supreme Court Lifts Block on Trump’s Mass Federal Layoffs

The unsigned order allows the administration to resume planning for agency staff cuts as legal challenges proceed in lower courts.

FILE - The Supreme Court is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
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A sign for the Social Security Administration is seen outside its headquarters in Woodlawn, Md., on March 20.

Overview

  • The Supreme Court lifted a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Susan Illston on May 22, clearing the way for mass federal layoffs to proceed under the February executive order.
  • Justices said they were not ruling on the legality of specific reduction plans and left those questions for lower courts to decide.
  • Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter, warning that the court’s emergency intervention risked enabling an unprecedented restructuring without sufficient factual review.
  • The executive order directs more than a dozen federal agencies to prepare large-scale reductions in force under the Department of Government Efficiency.
  • A coalition of labor unions, non-profits and local governments led by the American Federation of Government Employees pledged to continue challenging the cuts as hundreds of thousands of workers remain on administrative leave or face potential job losses.