White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday repeated that the administration will challenge an "activist" judge's order that six federal agencies rehire thousands of probationary workers.
The workers were laid off as part of President Donald Trump's push to streamline the federal government.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the justification of "poor performance" for mass layoffs last month was "a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements," The New York Times reported.
"Fighting back by appealing. Fighting back by using the full weight of the White House counsel's office and our lawyers at the federal government who believe that this injunction is entirely unconstitutional, and it is, for anybody that has a basic understanding of the law," Leavitt said while speaking to reporters outside the White House.
"You cannot have a low-level district court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States. That is completely absurd. And as the executive of the executive branch, the president has the ability to fire or hire. And you have these lower-level judges who are trying to block this president’s agenda. It’s very clear."
Leavitt added that she was "appalled" at a statistic she had seen Friday morning,
"In one month, in February, there have been 15 injunctions of this administration in our agenda. In three years under the Biden administration, there were 14 injunctions," Leavitt said. "So, it’s very clear that there are judicial activists throughout our judicial system branch who are trying to block this president’s executive authority.
"We are going to fight back and as anyone who saw President Trump and his legal team fighting back, they know how to do it. He was indicted nearly 200 times and he's in the Oval Office now because all of the indictments, all of these injunctions have always been unconstitutional and unfair. They are led by partisan activists who are trying to usurp the will of this president, and we're not going to stand for it."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.