Appeals Court Allows Reinstatement of Laid Off Federal Workers

A federal appeals court on Monday let stand a lower court’s ruling to reinstate thousands of probationary federal employees across six federal agencies who were laid off by the Trump administration, The Hill reported.

In a 2-1 decision, the Court of Appeals for the 9^th Circuit declined to grant the Trump administration’s request for an administrative stay of Judge William Alsup’s ruling last week ordering the Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy and Interior departments to reinstate probationary employees who he said were improperly fired.

“Given that the district court found that the employees were wrongfully terminated and ordered an immediate return to the status quo ante, an administrative stay of the district court’s order would not preserve the status quo. It would do just the opposite — it would disrupt the status quo and turn it on its head,” the 9th Circuit wrote on Monday. 

U.S. Circuit Judge Bridget Bade, a Trump appointee, dissented from the majority. Barry Silverman and Ana de Alba, part of the majority, were Democrat-appointed judges. Bade warned of a “potential whiplash effect,” writing, “a limited administrative stay is necessary to preserve the status quo as it existed prior to the district court’s preliminary injunction."

De Alba was nominated by former President Joe Biden in April 2023. Silverman was nominated by Bill Clinton in November 1997.

The White House on Thursday vowed to fight back in the wake of the decision by Alsup, senior District Court judge for the Northern District of California. In a hearing, Alsup called it “a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie.”

Further, Alsup said the government was within its rights to reduce staffing, but that it had to be done properly and with justification — he cited "reduction in force" orders issued by several agencies as legal routes.

The White House called it an “absurd and unconstitutional order."

"The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch — singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the president's agenda," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.

Information from AFP was used in this report. 

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