Updated at 4:10pm ET
The Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed the reinstatements of thousands of federal employees the Trump administration has sought to fire, dealing a blow to the workers and groups challenging one of the administration’s key efforts to upend the civil service.
Most of the 16,000 employees impacted by the court’s decision are—for now—still protected under a separate injunction issued by a Maryland-based federal judge, whose ruling is separate from the one that made its way to the high court. The Supreme Court ruled that the allegations of the non-profit groups that brought the case were insufficient to establish standing. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson noted that they would have denied the request for a stay.
The Trump administration sought emergency intervention from the Supreme Court after U.S. District Judge William Alsup in California reversed the firings of federal employees in their probationary periods—typically those hired in the last one or two years—at the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior and Treasury. It first sought an emergency stay before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but the court denied the request.
In his decision, Alsup had made clear the Trump administration, like any other, can engage in mass reductions of the federal workforce, but it must do so by following federal statutes and the Constitution. The Office of Personnel Management directed agencies to carry out the firings, the judge concluded, which he said circumvented those established procedures.
The administration has argued federal employees must take their disputes over personnel actions to the proper channels as provided in civil service law, such as the Merit Systems Protection Board. It also stated the non-profit groups assertions that services such as bathroom maintenance at National Parks and responsiveness to Freedom of Information Act requests would diminish failed to establish standing to sue. The American Federation of Government Employees was also party to the suit, but Alsup’s ruling was premised on the claims by the non-profit organizations.
The coalition that brought suit said on Tuesday “the battle is far from over” and there was “no doubt” the administration had acted unlawfully.
“Today’s order by the U.S. Supreme Court is deeply disappointing but is only a momentary pause in our efforts to enforce the trial court’s orders and hold the federal government accountable,” the groups said.
In a truncated decision, the high court latched onto the standing issue. The case went before Justice Elena Kagan, who referred the matter to the full court.
The exact impact of the case will be muted in the immediate term, as Judge James Bredar of the U.S. District Court for Maryland has also instituted an injunction on the firings at 20 agencies including those covered in Alsup’s ruling. Bredar’s ruling was issued on a limited basis, applying only to employees working or living in the 19 states—and Washington, D.C.—that brought the suit. Employees at the six departments impacted by the Supreme Court’s stay not living or working in those states or D.C. can now be re-fired.
The high court’s stay will remain in effect until the Ninth Circuit hears the full case. If the case is then appealed to the Supreme Court for a full hearing, and the court agrees to hear it, the stay will remain in effect until it issues a decision. If it declines to hear the case, the stay will terminate at that time.
In a 2-1 decision, the Ninth Circuit last month denied an emergency motion for a stay on Alsup’s injunction, saying the Trump administration failed to demonstrate it was “likely to succeed on the merits” of the case. It is not scheduled to hear the full appeal until next month.
Correction: An earlier version of this story cited Monday as the day the Supreme Court made its ruling. The correct day is Tuesday.
