The United States Supreme Court today cleared a significant path for President Donald Trump to implement his long-anticipated overhaul of the federal workforce. That is how his administration can proceed with mass government firings with impunity. Judge Susan Illston recently ruled that Trump overstepped his authority with his earlier orders to downsize. This decision is a direct result of her findings. The Court’s decision overturns a lower court order that had temporarily shuttered the sweeping federal firings. These layoffs are euphemistically called “reductions in force.”
Trump’s administration has argued that he possesses a mandate from voters to embark on a comprehensive reform of the federal bureaucracy. He’s tapped billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to head an ambitious new startup-infused initiative. This new division, the “Department of Government Efficiency,” is better known by its paw-tastic Doge moniker. Though primarily intended to improve efficiency, this restructuring is meant to ease burden by cutting the number of federal employees and offices.
In an executive order, Trump announced what he described as “a critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy.” The executive order outlines the administration’s vision for an impending overhaul to cut personnel and reorganize entirely federal government operations. This announcement is the latest development following Trump’s controversial actions. He has banned transgender Americans from serving in the military and stripped hundreds of thousands of migrants of temporary legal status, granting humanitarian protection where it once existed.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has enjoyed a series of victories at the Supreme Court, particularly in cases acted upon with emergency urgency. His administration claimed that these decisions signify the Court’s approval of his authority over federal personnel issues. In a notable statement, Pam Bondi, the attorney general, expressed satisfaction with the decision, stating, “Today, the Supreme Court stopped lawless lower courts from restricting President Trump’s authority over federal personnel – another Supreme Court victory thanks to @thejusticedept attorneys. Now, federal agencies have an opportunity to be more efficient than ever.
So even with the Supreme Court’s support, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented from the majority opinion. She condemned the ruling, referring to it as “the wrong decision at the wrong time.” She warned that it would be damaging to federal employees and critical services. Jackson added that the Court’s eagerness to validate Trump’s conduct would threaten vital government services.
The rainbow coalition of plaintiffs that successfully challenged Trump’s over-reach—unions, non-profits and local governments—were up in arms about the executive order. Their argument was that the Constitution forbids such sweeping moves without Congressional approval. In their statement, they warned that “programs, offices and functions across the federal government will be abolished, agencies will be radically downsized from what Congress authorized, critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will lose their jobs.”
Judge Illston had previously ruled against Trump’s federal downsizing efforts and found at “the constitutional limits of presidential power” over federal employment. “As history demonstrates, the president may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress,” she stated.