Supreme Court lets Trump take an axe to federal government

Kelsey Reichmann

WASHINGTON (CN) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared President Donald Trump to move forward with mass firings set to dismantle large swaths of the federal government.

Trump pushed the justices to allow his executive order reducing the size of the federal workforce to be enforced while labor unions challenge it in court.

After failing to restructure the government through Congress in his first term, Trump moved to unilaterally execute his policies upon taking office in January. Using reduction-in-force (RIF) notices, the administration carried out mass firings across government agencies.

Labor unions, advocacy groups and local governments sued Trump and almost every executive department, claiming that the administration exceeded its authority and violated the separation of powers.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Bill Clinton appointee, issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the administration from carrying out terminations while the lawsuit proceeded. Illston said the restructuring was unconstitutional without congressional authorization.

Trump called Illston’s ruling indefensible, rebuking the idea that he needed congressional authority to oversee executive branch functions.

“The Constitution does not erect a presumption against presidential control of agency staffing, and the president does not need special permission from Congress to exercise core Article II powers,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer wrote, citing the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling.

Labor unions and advocacy groups stated that the cuts would be impossible to reverse, pushing the justices to keep the terminations on hold for now.

“Rather than permitting this scheme to become a fait accompli before the courts can play their proper role, this court should allow the status quo to remain in place while the case proceeds through the regular judicial process,” the labor unions wrote.