The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration can proceed with the termination of 16,000 probationary federal workers across six agencies and departments, overturning a lower court order that they be reinstated while litigation over the layoffs continues.
In a brief, unsigned order, the court stated that the nine labor unions and nonprofit organizations that challenged the firings lacked standing in the case. The groups’ “allegations [of harm] are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” the order stated.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have denied Trump’s request.
A federal judge ordered the administration last month to reinstate the affected employees from the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and Treasury.
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the judge’s order, claiming the plaintiffs lacked standing and had “hijacked the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce.”
The unions had petitioned the Supreme Court to uphold the district court judge’s order that those employees be reinstated due to the imminent harm that would result from termination.
“Because probationary employees include not only those new to the government but also those recently promoted, agencies lost experienced individuals and directors of programs and were left with arbitrary and unexpected gaps in critical functions,” according to the brief they submitted. “The reverberations throughout agencies and impacts on services were dramatic and immediate.”
On Tuesday, the union coalition called the Supreme Court order “deeply disappointing” but vowed to continue fighting the terminations.
“Despite this setback, our coalition remains unwavering in its fight for these workers who have been wronged by the administration, as well as to protect the American people’s freedoms. “This fight is far from over,” the coalition said in a statement.
