A federal judge again blocked the Trump administration from carrying out workforce reductions and reorganizations Thursday evening, indefinitely extending previous temporary relief.
The preliminary injunction from Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California followed her temporary restraining orderwhich had prevented the administration from pursuing RIFs and reorganizations directed in an executive order from President Donald Trump.
Illston’s new order, which applies to 22 agencies that are defendants in the case, reups that relief, prohibiting any approval or disapproval of those plans, orders from the Department of Government Efficiency related to cutting staff or programs, and implementation of reductions and reorganizations.
The 51-page order is the latest in a challenge brought by a coalition of unions, nonprofits and local governments alleging the administration’s staff reductions and reorganizations flout the legislative authority granted to Congress in the Constitution. In her new order, Illston again sided with that argument.
“Agencies may not conduct large-scale reorganizations and reductions in force in blatant disregard of Congress’s mandates, and a President may not initiate large-scale executive branch reorganization without partnering with Congress,” Illston said.
The Trump administration has used RIFs to carry out mass terminations and eliminate agencies or functions that don’t align with its agenda, such as USAID. The ruling is a victory for those advocating against such attempts to reshape the federal government, at least for now. The Trump administration immediately appealed Illston’s decision to the Ninth Circuit.
Illston’s previous temporary order already halted RIF plans in some federal agencies. The National Science Foundation, for example, stopped its plans to terminate an equity division and the White House directed staff in its Office of Management and Budget to stop communicating with agencies about workforce reductions and reorganizations in light of the ruling.
The new order from Illston also appears to address that, stating that agencies can still present their reorganizations for approval by Congress or plan internally without involvement from OMB, the Office of Personnel Management or DOGE, so long as they don’t actually implement the plans.
Per Illston’s order, the impacted agencies are: OMB, OPM, DOGE, Department of Commerce, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of the Interior, Department of Labor, Department of State, Department of the Treasury, Department of Transportation, Department of Veterans Affairs, AmeriCorps, Peace Corps, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, National Labor Relations Board, NSF, Small Business Administration, and Social Security Administration.
Illston also acknowledged that further retrospective relief is needed to return the situation to the “status quo” but imposing that relief was “limited by practical considerations.”
As a result, Illston directed the defendant agencies to rescind any reductions in force (RIFs) that were the result of Trump’s directive and undo actions to place employees on administrative leave as part of those plans — but she paused that relief for the duration of an appeal. That means if the Ninth Circuit upholds her decision in full, those additional requirements could kick in.
