From today’s Reuters:
The Trump administration can continue its mass firings of federal employees for now, a federal judge ruled on Thursday, rejecting a bid by a group of labor unions to halt President Donald Trump’s dramatic downsizing of the roughly 2.3 million-strong federal workforce.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington, D.C., said Trump’s onslaught of executive actions in his first month in office have caused “disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society.” But he said he likely lacks the power to decide whether the firing of tens of thousands of government workers is lawful.
The unions are instead likely required to file complaints with the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which hears disputes between federal agencies and unions that represent their workers, Cooper said. Trump last week fired the Democratic chair of the three-member panel, who has filed a lawsuit seeking to be reinstated.
“Federal district judges are duty-bound to decide legal issues based on even-handed application of law and precedent — no matter the identity of the litigants or, regrettably at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people,” the judge wrote.
The unions are instead likely required to file complaints with the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which hears disputes between federal agencies and unions that represent their workers, Cooper said. Trump last week fired the Democratic chair of the three-member panel, who has filed a lawsuit seeking to be reinstated.
“Federal district judges are duty-bound to decide legal issues based on even-handed application of law and precedent — no matter the identity of the litigants or, regrettably at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people,” the judge wrote.
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