Judge indefinitely halts shutdown layoffs noting human toll

[riversedge]

1. he wanted government bureaucrats to be "traumatically affected" to the point of not wanting to go to work.

I do not even attempt to understand the meanness of our Federal Government



"Receiving a RIF notice during the government shutdown, on top of the previous RIF, has been traumatic and it will have a lasting impact on my health," she wrote. "It doesn't feel as though the administration thought about or cared about that long-lasting impact."

Medrano did not respond to NPR's request for further comment.

In the initial hearing in the case two weeks ago, the plaintiffs' attorney Leonard pointed to comments made by White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought before Trump's re-election.

In a private speech in 2023 surfaced by ProPublica, Vought, who is now largely seen as the force behind the shutdown layoffs, said he wanted government bureaucrats to be "traumatically affected" to the point of not wanting to go to work.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/28/nx-s1-5585083/government-shutdown-trump-rif-layoffs