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 judges’ 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 “deliberate attempt to circumvent federal employment protections” and criticized the administration for dismissing employees under the guise of performance reviews.
𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐏𝐮𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡
The Trump administration has already moved to appeal Alsup’s ruling, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling the court orders “an unconstitutional interference in executive authority.”
“The Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,” Leavitt stated. “The president has the right to ensure government agencies are staffed by competent individuals, not bureaucrats entrenched in inefficiency.”
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.
𝐋𝐚𝐰𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐬
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.
“It is a sad day when our government fires a good employee and falsely claims it was performance-based,” Alsup said. “That should not happen in our country.”
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.
