Donald Trump receives another judicial setback. A federal judge in San Francisco has blocked, at least for the moment, the US president’s plans to partial out the US government caused by the disagreement between Republicans and Democrats over health spending.
Trump has threatened Democrats if they do not approve budgets presented by the Republican majority – which controls both chambers – for the next fiscal year and which include significant cuts in health coverage for millions of people.
While budgets are on hold, the federal government has run out of funds and has suspended most of its non-essential operations for two weeks. So it works only at half gas, with most non-essential public services, such as security or defense, frozen.
has accepted for processing the request of two unions that requested the blocking of layoffs in thirty federal agencies.
The court decision comes five days after White House budget director Russell Vought announced via social media that “the EREs have begun.” That same day, last Friday, the White House began sending letters to numerous agencies notifying the dismissal of more than 4,000 officials.
But the White House maneuver can go further. Vought, which participated in the drafting of the , a document considered a road map for President Trump’s second term and in which a drastic reduction of federal bureaucracy is advocated, declared this Wednesday to The Charlie Kirk Show that more than 10,000 federal employees could lose their jobs due to the government shutdown.
“The activities that are being carried out here are contrary to the laws,” Judge Illston assured the Trump Administration’s lawyers this Wednesday during the public hearing in which she issued the order to temporarily block the layoffs. “You can’t do this in a nation of laws,” said Illston, an appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton. The judge, however, urged the unions to present their claims to a federal labor board before going to court.
Judge Illston considers that the dismissals are politically motivated. It is based on Trump’s statements in which he assures that the cuts he will make taking advantage of the government shutdown would be directed at “Democratic agencies.” “That cannot be done in a country of law. And here we have laws, and what is being articulated here is not within the law,” said the magistrate.
Illston pointed out during the hearing that the Trump Administration has taken advantage of “the drop in spending and the functioning of the Government to assume that everything is lost, that the laws no longer apply to them and that they can impose the structures they want in the governmental situation that they do not like,” according to NBC.
Two of the main public employee associations, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), , because that decision does not respond to an essential service. The closure, they abound, does not justify massive layoffs of workers who are suspended and whose salaries are frozen.
. Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman said in a statement: “The President appears to believe that his government shutdown is distracting people from the harmful and illegal actions of his Administration, but the American people are holding him accountable, including in court.”
“The government’s decision to lay off thousands of federal employees already without pay during the government shutdown is not only cruel, but illegal,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley. “These are dedicated public servants who keep our nation running: protecting public health, supporting education, ensuring fair housing, and driving economic growth.”
“This decision confirms that these threats of mass layoffs are likely illegal and prevents layoff notices from being issued,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “Federal workers have already faced enough uncertainty due to the government’s relentless attacks on the important jobs they do,” he added.
The union associations have stated that they will continue to go to court to defend the rights of public workers.
