‘It was a sham’: Embarrassing news for Trump as judge orders his administration to rehire the people they fired
The Trump administration has been dedicated to thinning out the federal government by firing workers en masse. Despite having laid off workers, Judge William Alsup demanded the reinstatement of the same employees.
U.S District Judge William Alsup ordered six federal agencies to reinstate probationary government employees fired “on or about February 13.” Alsup called the firings a “sham” and determined the terminations made by the Office of Personnel Management were unlawful. “It is a sad, sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie. That should not have been done in our country. It was a sham in order to avoid statutory requirements,” was Alsup’s scathing comment about the purge.
Thousands of probationary employees from the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Veterans Affairs, and Treasury could be rehired. This isn’t to say that Alsup is against federal layoffs, so long as “it can be done if it’s in accordance with the law.” Alsup believes using OPM to fire probationary employees at will was an “easy way to get a reduction-in-force underway” and a “gimmick.”
A second federal judge in Maryland issued a similar ruling earlier this week. U.S. District Judge James Bredar echoed Alsup’s sentiments, writing, “In this case, the government conducted massive layoffs, but it gave no advance notice. It claims it wasn’t required to because, it says, it dismissed each one of these thousands of probationary employees for ‘performance’ or other individualized reasons. On the record before the Court, this isn’t true. There were no individualized assessments of employees. They were all just fired. Collectively.”
Tech billionaire Elon Musk is spearheading the government’s large-scale firings with DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency. According to USA Today, 100,000 federal workers have already lost their jobs during Trump’s two months in office. Despite these efforts, Musk has yet to show significant financial proof that the reduction in the workforce has been beneficial. At the very least, the judicial branch of the U.S. government is still holding the line for workers who’ve been wrongfully terminated.
Fury from the Trump Administration
“A single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the Executive Branch,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. She accused Alsup’s decision of being unconstitutional. She added, “If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for president themselves. The Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order.”
This seems to be a win for federal employees. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that the compliance of the executive branch of government is not guaranteed.
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