Washington (AP) — A federal appeals court cleared the way Wednesday for President Donald Trump’s administration to fire thousands of probationary workers, halting a judge’s order requiring their reinstatement, in a legal victory for Trump’s efforts to reduce the federal workforce.
The decision comes a day after the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration in another lawsuit involving mass firings.
A split panel of the 4th United States Circuit Court of Appeals determined that terminations of federal employees should most likely be appealed through a separate employment process rather than litigated in federal court. Two judges appointed by Republican presidents agreed with the administration, while a third Democratic appointed judge disagreed.
The decision stems from a lawsuit filed by nearly two dozen states, which claimed that the mass firings would result in irreparable burdens and expenses to support recently unemployed workers. They claimed that at least 24,000 probationary employees have been terminated since Trump took office.
The states may still seek further review as the lawsuit progresses.
According to court documents, the Republican administration has argued that states have no right to try to influence the federal government’s relationship with its own workers, but it has also reinstated approximately 15,000 workers to full duty or paid leave while the lawsuits were pending.
The appeals court order halts a decision by U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore, one of two judges appointed by Democratic presidents who found that the Trump administration violated federal law by terminating 20 agencies in the states that sued.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court overturned another order issued by U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco, ruling that nonprofit organizations lacked legal standing to sue over the termination of probationary employees.
However, additional plaintiffs remain in the case, and Alsup was considering whether to order reinstatement again on behalf of the state of Washington and labor groups on Wednesday.
Probationary employees have been targeted for layoffs throughout the federal government because they are typically new to the job and lack full civil service protection.
The states suing the Trump administration in the Baltimore case include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin, as well as Washington, D.C.
