Trump administration asks Supreme Court to let it move forward with mass layoffs of federal workforce
Source: CBS News
Updated on: June 2, 2025 / 1:09 PM EDT
Washington — President Trump's administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow it to move forward with its plans to lay off thousands of federal workers at nearly two dozen agencies while a legal battle over the president's plans to drastically cut the size of the government moves forward.
The Justice Department's request for emergency relief is the second in which it has asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the ongoing dispute over its efforts to execute reductions-in-force, or layoffs, across the executive branch. The administration initially asked the Supreme Court to halt a two-week temporary restraining order issued by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, but withdrew its request after she granted longer relief last month.
That preliminary injunction issued by Illston prevented the Trump administration from implementing planned reductions-in-force, placing employees on administrative leave and proceeding with job cuts that are already in motion. The Justice Department's latest request for the Supreme Court's intervention comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit declined last week to halt Illston's order, which would have allowed the administration to resume its efforts to sharply scale down the size of the federal workforce.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in a filing that the district court's order is "flawed" and rests on an "indefensible premise," namely that the president needs authorization from Congress to oversee personnel decisions within the executive branch. "It interferes with the Executive Branch's internal operations and unquestioned legal authority to plan and carry out RIFs, and does so on a government-wide scale," he wrote.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-supreme-court-reductions-in-force-layoffs-federal-workers/
There is no such thing as "unquestioned legal authority". When there is a dispute, it goes to the courts to resolve. But they want to carve out that a GOP President has such power and no one else.
Congress PAID FOR those employees that were illegally "RIF'd" without any notification by the Executive Branch to Congress to do such.
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