A federal judge further halts Trump's radical transformation of government [View all]
Source: NPR
Updated May 23, 2025 8:18 AM ET
A federal judge in San Francisco has indefinitely paused President Trump's sweeping overhaul of the federal government. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued the preliminary injunction late Thursday, nearly two weeks after temporarily halting Trump's Feb. 11 executive order directing agencies to shut down offices and lay off thousands of people.
A coalition of labor unions, nonprofits and local governments had sued to block that executive order and the subsequent memo issued by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management instructing agencies on how to carry out Trump's order. The plaintiffs argued that Trump lacks the authority to carry out such a radical transformation of government without approval from Congress.
Illston agreed, writing that "agencies may not conduct large-scale reorganizations and reductions in force in blatant disregard of Congress's mandates, and a President may not initiate large-scale executive branch reorganization without partnering with Congress."
She noted that over the last century, nine presidents have sought and obtained authority from Congress to reorganize the executive branch. She pointed out that others, including Trump in his first term, sought approval but were not granted it. The lawsuit named Trump, Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, the heads of 21 federal agencies and those agencies themselves as defendants.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/23/nx-s1-5407344/trump-government-reorganization-rif-pause
REFERENCE - https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143461417
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/288497fc-9b36-4d0d-bf97-a2949b5464ce.pdf
There are over 225 cases going (some resolved) and I think this is a "new" status update that happened last night. (ETA - it is breaking everywhere now so it is "new" and got lost under the "tariff" nonsense)
From the article - impacted Departments/agencies -
Office of Management and Budget Office of Personnel Management Department of Agriculture Department of Commerce Department of Energy Department of Health and Human Services Department of Housing and Urban Development Department of the Interior Department of Labor Department of State Treasury Department Department of Transportation Department of Veterans Affairs AmeriCorps Environmental Protection Agency General Services Administration National Labor Relations Board National Science Foundation Peace Corps Small Business Administration Social Security Administration Department of Government Efficiency (not a formally established government agency)
= new reply since forum marked as read