Two federal judges have halted the Trump administration’s sweeping termination of probationary federal employees, ordering the immediate reinstatement of thousands of workers. The rulings, issued on March 14, 2025, in San Francisco and Baltimore, strike a major blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal workforce.
Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco ruled that Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, lacked the legal authority to direct the mass dismissals. In a separate ruling, Judge James Bredar of the U.S. District Court in Baltimore found that the administration violated federal laws requiring a 60-day notice for large-scale layoffs.
The judgesโ orders temporarily reinstate affected workers across six federal agencies, including Veterans Affairs, Defense, Agriculture, Energy, Treasury, and the Interior. Alsup described the layoffs as a โdeliberate attempt to circumvent federal employment protectionsโ and criticized the administration for dismissing employees under the guise of performance reviews.
๐๐ก๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ค, ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ก
The Trump administration has already moved to appeal Alsupโs ruling, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the court orders โan unconstitutional interference in executive authority.โ
โThe Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,โ Leavitt stated. โThe president has the right to ensure government agencies are staffed by competent individuals, not bureaucrats entrenched in inefficiency.โ
However, labor unions and advocacy groups that filed lawsuits against the administration celebrated the court decisions as a victory for federal workers and government accountability. Erik Molvar, executive director of the Western Watersheds Project, condemned the mass firings as a direct attack on government agencies and their ability to function effectively.
๐๐๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฏ๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ฌ
According to court documents, at least 24,000 probationary employees have been dismissed since Trump took office for his second term, though the administration has yet to confirm an exact figure. Many of the affected workers served in critical roles such as veterans’ healthcare, environmental management, and public land conservation.
The lawsuit contends that the administration aimed to gut the federal workforce without proper oversight, leaving state governments struggling to support newly unemployed workers.
Trump officials argue that the firings were based on individual performance assessments rather than broad-based layoffs, a claim Alsup challenged in court.
โIt is a sad day when our government fires a good employee and falsely claims it was performance-based,โ Alsup said. โThat should not happen in our country.โ
With the court rulings temporarily shielding over 200,000 federal workers, the next legal battles will determine whether Trump’s attempt to reshape the government workforce survives judicial scrutiny.
