By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked an order for the Trump administration to return to work thousands of federal employees who were let go in mass firings aimed at dramatically downsizing the federal government.
The justices acted in the administration’s emergency appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California ordering that 16,000 probationary employees at six federal agencies be reinstated while a lawsuit plays out because their firings didn’t follow federal law.
The court’s order involved a technical legal assessment of the right, or standing, of several nonprofit associations to sue over the firings. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have kept the judge’s order in place.
It’s the third time in less than a week that the justices have sided with the Republican administration in its fight against federal judges whose orders have slowed President Donald Trump’s agenda. The court also paused an order restoring grants for teacher training and lifted an order that froze deportations under an 18th century wartime law.
But as with the earlier orders, the effect of Tuesday’s order will be limited. Many employees at the agencies will remain on paid administrative leave for now because of an order in a separate lawsuit over the firings.
The second suit, filed in Maryland, involves employees at those same six agencies, plus roughly a dozen more. That order is more limited in that it applies only in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that sued the administration.
The Justice Department is separately appealing the Maryland order.
At least 24,000 probationary employees have been terminated since Trump took office, the lawsuits claim, though the government has not confirmed that number.
The coalition of organizations and labor unions that sued said it was disappointed with the court’s order, but it said the battle is far from over.
“There is no doubt that thousands of public service employees were unlawfully fired in an effort to cripple federal agencies and their crucial programs that serve millions of Americans every day,” the coalition said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that the terminations were improperly directed by the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director. He ordered rehiring at the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury.
Alsup, who was nominated by Democratic President Bill Clinton, expressed frustration with what he called the government’s attempt to sidestep laws and regulations by firing probationary workers with fewer legal protections.
He said he was appalled that employees were told they were being fired for poor performance despite receiving glowing evaluations just months earlier.
The administration has insisted that the agencies themselves directed the firings and they “have since decided to stand by those terminations,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court.
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