SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
The Trump administration can conduct mass firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled


What happened
The Supreme Court Tuesday ruled that the Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission. The decision lifts a lower court's block on an executive order President Donald Trump issued in February aimed at "eliminating waste, bloat, and insularity" across government and paves the way for thousands of workers to be cut from multiple departments.
Who said what
This case "represents a key test" of the extent of Trump's "power to reorganize the government without input from Congress," said The New York Times. White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said the ruling "clearly rebukes the continued assaults" on the president's executive powers.
The order was unsigned and did not include a vote count. But in a 15-page dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, one of the court's three liberals, called the decision "hubristic and senseless" and warned it would "release the president's wrecking ball" on the government workforce. A coalition of labor unions, nonprofits, and local governments said that regardless of Tuesday's ruling, firing federal workers "en masse haphazardly without any congressional approval" was unconstitutional.
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What next?
The ruling is temporary, while litigation over Trump's executive order proceeds. "In practice, it means he is free to pursue his restructuring plans," said the Times. Several departments, including State and Veterans Affairs, have already announced steep workforce cuts. But while the ruling "cleared one major legal obstacle" for the administration, further challenges "could alter the scope and timing of the cuts," unnamed White House sources told Reuters.
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Jessica Hullinger is a writer and former deputy editor of The Week Digital. Originally from the American Midwest, she completed a degree in journalism at Indiana University Bloomington before relocating to New York City, where she pursued a career in media. After joining The Week as an intern in 2010, she served as the title’s audience development manager, senior editor and deputy editor, as well as a regular guest on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. Her writing has featured in other publications including Popular Science, Fast Company, Fortune, and Self magazine, and she loves covering science and climate-related issues.
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