Judges tell Trump to rehire fired federal workers

Man protests Elon Musk and Donald Trump government job cuts

'It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie'

(Image credit: Bryan Dozier / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

By Peter Weber, The Week US

published 14 March 2025

What happened

Federal judges in Maryland and California Thursday ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of probationary workers they said were improperly fired across 19 agencies. Thursday was also President Donald Trump's deadline for federal agencies to submit plans for further "mass" workforce reductions and significant budget cuts.

The "back-to-back rulings were the most significant blow yet" to efforts by Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE team to "drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy," Reuters said. Judge William Alsup in San Francisco and, hours later, Judge James Bredar in Baltimore both said the White House had not followed the proper legal procedures to lay off at least 24,000 probationary employees. They also criticized the administration for blaming the mass firings on performance reviews, with Alsup calling that a "sham to avoid statutory requirements."

Alsup said the White House Office of Personnel Management had unlawfully directed the firings of probationary employees at six agencies, taking advantage of their fewer worker protections. "It is a sad, sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that's a lie," he said. Bredar's ruling, covering 18 agencies, focused on efforts to sidestep federal "rules intended to ensure that states are ready to bear the load cast upon them when mass layoffs occur."

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Government lawyers said Trump has broad authority to fire workers and claimed that individual agencies directed the firings, not OPM. The administration "faces dozens of legal challenges to agency dismantlings" and other DOGE-related cuts and information access, The Washington Post said. Several "federal judges have grown frustrated by the inability of the government's own lawyers to answer straightforward questions" about DOGE's structure or activities, The New York Times said. Two judges in Washington this week ordered DOGE to hand over documents and answer questions about its role in Trump's government downsizing, and submit to Freedom of Information Act requests.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.