Breaking US Supreme Court clears way for Trump to sack federal workers
The justices lifted San Francisco-based US District Judge Susan Illston's 22 May order that had blocked large-scale federal sackings called "reductions in force" affecting potentially hundreds of thousands of jobs, while litigation in the case proceeds.
US President Donald Trump in February announced "a critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy" in an executive order directing agencies to prepare for a government overhaul aimed at significantly reducing the federal workforce and gutting offices opposed by the administration.
Workforce reductions were planned at the US Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs and more than a dozen other agencies.
The Supreme Court, in a brief unsigned order, said Mr Trump's administration was "likely to succeed on its argument that the executive order" and a memorandum implementing his order were lawful.
The court said it was not assessing the legality of any specific plans for layoffs at federal agencies.
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole member of the nine-person court to publicly dissent from the decision.
Ms Justice Jackson wrote that Ms Justice Illston's "temporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this court's demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this president's legally dubious actions in an emergency posture".
Ms Justice Illston wrote in her ruling that Mr Trump had exceeded his authority in ordering the downsizing, siding with a group of unions, non-profits and local governments that challenged the administration.
"As history demonstrates, the president may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress," she wrote.
The judge blocked the agencies from carrying out mass layoffs and limited their ability to cut or overhaul federal programs.
She also ordered the reinstatement of workers who had lost their jobs, though she delayed implementing this portion of her ruling while the appeals process plays out.
Ms Justice Illston's ruling was the broadest of its kind against the government overhaul being pursued by Mr Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a key player in the Republican president's drive to slash the federal workforce.
Formerly spearheaded by billionaire Elon Musk, DOGE has sought to eliminate federal jobs, shrink and reshape the US government and root out what they see as wasteful spending.
Mr Musk formally ended his government work on 30 May and subsequently had a public falling out with Mr Trump.
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