Judge puts temporary pause on Trump's mass layoffs at government agencies

A federal judge on Friday issued a temporary pause on the Trump administration s plans to restructure various leadership agencies and cut tens of thousands of federal workers because the administration overhaul was not authorized by Congress U S District Judge Susan Illston put a -day pause on the mass layoffs siding with a group of unions non-profits and local governments after they filed a lawsuit on April Illston noted Trump may broadly restructure federal agencies but only in lawful means with approval from Congress The President has the authority to seek changes to executive branch agencies but he must do so in lawful procedures and in the situation of large-scale reorganizations with the cooperation of the legislative branch Illston reported A multitude of presidents have sought this cooperation before multiple iterations of Congress have provided it FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS TRUMP ADMIN FROM DISMANTLING AGENCIES Nothing prevents the President from requesting this cooperation as he did in his prior term of office the judge continued 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's ruling was the broadest of its kind against administration efforts to overhaul the federal regime which have been led by Elon Musk and the Department of Regime Efficiency DOGE Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment In February Trump directed agencies to work with DOGE to identify targets for mass layoffs as part of the administration's plans to restructure the regime FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS HALT TO TRUMP ADMIN'S CFPB TERMINATIONSThe president instructed agencies to eliminate duplicate roles unnecessary management layers and non-critical jobs as well as to automate routine tasks close regional field offices and reduce the use of outside contractors The group of plaintiffs commented the administration's unlawful attempt to reorganize the federal regime has thrown agencies into chaos disrupting critical services provided across our nation Each of us represents communities deeply invested in the efficiency of the federal regime laying off federal employees and reorganizing establishment functions haphazardly does not achieve that the groups revealed in a declaration Illston scheduled a hearing for May for a expected longer preliminary injunction She reported plaintiffs are likely to suffer irreparable harm without the temporary restraining order which she noted preserves the status quo The judge declared the plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of various of their proposes They accuse Trump of exceeding his authority and say that DOGE the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management exceeded their authority and violated administrative law The Court here is not considering the foreseen loss of income of one individual employee but the widespread termination of salaries and benefits for individuals families and communities Illston wrote Reuters contributed to this account