May 10 (UPI) — The Trump administration is appealing a district judge’s order that temporarily blocked plans to reduce the federal workforce and reorganize 21 departments and agencies.
Late Friday, attorneys asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to review Judge Susan Illston’s temporary restraining order earlier in the day. Illston, who serves in California, was appointed by President Bill Clinton.
She said plaintiffs need to file their motion for preliminary injunction by Wednesday and plans to hear further arguments on May 22.
The judge said the “plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of at least some of their claims.”
The lawsuit was filed April 28 by a coalition of nonprofits, unions and local governments, including San Francisco.
Her 42-page order puts on hold Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency “Workforce Optimization Initiative.” The order also includes similar memos issued by the Office of Personnel Management and DOGE.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Feb. 11 calling for significant cuts to the federal workforce, as well as reorganization of various departments and agencies.
During Trump’s first 100 days in office, at least 121,000 workers have been laid off or targeted for layoffs, according to a CNN analysis. There are more than 3 million workers among civilian and military personnel.
“The President has the authority to seek changes to executive branch agencies, but he must do so in lawful ways and, in the case of large-scale reorganizations, with the cooperation of the legislative branch,” Illston wrote after hearing arguments from both sides.
“Many presidents have sought this cooperation before; many iterations of Congress have provided it. Nothing prevents the President from requesting this cooperation — as he did in his prior term of office. Indeed, the Court holds the President likely must request Congressional cooperation to order the changes he seeks, and thus issues a temporary restraining order to pause large-scale reductions in force in the meantime.”
Illston said she believes there is “no statutory authority whatsoever” that allows the Office of Personnel Management, the Office of Management and Budget or DOGE the authority to direct other federal agencies to make cuts through buyouts or layoffs.
The agencies are the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Interior, Labor, State, Treasury, Transportation and Veterans Affairs.
Six additional agencies that have a statutory basis elsewhere in the United States Code are AmeriCorps, General Services Administration, National Labor Relations Board, National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
The only executive department not named in this suit is the Department of Education, which Trump wants to disband.
Federal agencies were directed to submit phase 1 plans by March 13 and phase 2 by April 14.
The Trump administration said plaintiffs lacked timeliness because the relevant executive order was issued nearly three months ago.
“Defendants cannot have it both ways,” Illston wrote. “The Court finds that plaintiffs reasonably waited to gather what information they could about the harm they may suffer from the Executive Order, the OMB/OPM Memorandum, and the [agency reduction in force and reorganization plans].”
Eric Hamilton, an attorney for the Department of Justice, told the judge the executive order is not a mandatory order but merely a planning process.
“There’s case law in the Ninth Circuit as well as federal district courts in the state of California that have recognized that delays of much less are by itself enough for a court to deny a motion for a temporary restraining order,” he told the judge.
“The Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to reorganize the federal government has thrown agencies into chaos, disrupting critical services provided across our nation,” the coalition said after the ruling in a statement. Each of us represents communities deeply invested in the efficiency of the federal government – laying off federal employees and reorganizing government functions haphazardly does not achieve that.”
“We are gratified by the court’s decision today to pause these harmful actions while our case proceeds,” they said.
In a separate case, Senior U.S. District Judge William Alsup, also a Clinton appointee, ordered the government to rehire thousands of workers it fired. The Supreme Court said the nonprofits did not have legal standing to sue and the judge then ordered the agencies to give fired workers letters they were not fired based on their performance.
In April, U.S. District Judge James Bredar of Maryland, appointed by President Barack Obama, also ordered 19 federal agencies to reinstate probationary workers fired.
CBS News reported that more than 24,000 workers at 18 agencies were fired as part of Trump’s efforts to shrink the size of government were rehired as part of the judge’s order, although an appeals court later cleared the way for the mass firings.
