US court rules to keep 25,000 fired federal workers in jobs for now

The order by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals represents the latest setback for the Trump administration in its push to remove federal workers

By Zoe Tillman

 

The Trump administration must continue to comply with a Maryland judge’s order to temporarily reinstate almost 25,000 fired employees at 18 US agencies for at least another week, a federal appeals court held. 

The Friday order by the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals represents the latest setback for the administration in its push to remove federal workers with what’s known as probationary status who started serving in their current roles within the last one or two years, depending on the type of position.

 

The appeals court panel denied a request by the US Justice Department to immediately pause a Baltimore judge’s 14-day reinstatement order and keep the fired employees out of their jobs while the legal fight goes forward. 

 

The three-judge panel didn’t address the merits of the fight, saying that it was rejecting the government’s request because US District Judge James Bredar already had scheduled a hearing for March 26 on whether to grant a longer-term injunction, which is the type of ruling that appeals courts prefer to weigh in on. 

 

Judge Allison Jones Rushing, appointed to the 4th Circuit by President Donald Trump, wrote separately Friday to express concern about the scope of Bredar’s order, which applied nationwide instead of only to the 19 states and the District of Columbia, whose Democratic attorneys general brought the case. The district judge “lost sight of who the plaintiffs are and what injury they claim,” she wrote.

 

Bredar entered a temporary restraining order on March 13 that required the administration to bring back probationary workers who were fired in mid-February from 18 core US agencies as well as their components, such as the Internal Revenue Service under the Treasury Department and the National Institutes of Health under the Department of Health and Human Services.

 

In a separate case, a San Francisco federal judge earlier this month entered a longer-term injunction that required the administration to rehire probationary workers who were fired in mid-February from the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs. 

 

The government is also appealing the ruling in California and has asked the 9th Circuit to pause its effect while the legal fight goes forward. 

 

The case is Maryland v USDA, 25-1248, US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.