Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 05/10/2025 6:11:05 AM PDT by Red Badger
A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's sweeping overhaul of the federal government.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee, came after a hearing Friday in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions, nonprofits and local governments.
The plaintiffs argue in their complaint that President Trump's efforts to "radically restructure and dismantle the federal government" without any authorization from Congress violate the Constitution.
Illston agreed with the plaintiffs, asserting in the hearing that Supreme Court precedent makes clear that while the president does have the authority to seek changes at agencies, he must do so in lawful ways.
"[T]o make large-scale overhauls of federal agencies," she wrote in her ruling Friday evening, "any president must enlist the help of his co-equal branch and partner, the Congress."
Illston issued a temporary restraining order pausing further implementation of Trump's Feb. 11 executive order directing agencies to begin major reorganizations, as well as subsequent memos from his administration instructing agencies how to comply. Her order applies to 20 federal agencies, including the Departments of State, Treasury and Veterans Affairs, and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Her order explicitly pauses the implementation of any existing reduction-in-force (RIF) notices, delaying while her order is in effect final separation for any employees who have received such notices. The order also pauses the issuance of any future RIF notices and the placement of additional employees on administrative leave.
During Friday's hearing, Illston said a temporary restraining order was necessary "to protect the power of the legislative branch."
She noted that in his first term, Trump did in fact seek Congress' approval for similar restructuring plans. "He could have done that here, but he didn't," Illston said.
The order is in effect for 14 days, through May 23. Although temporary restraining orders, intended to be stop-gap measures, are generally not appealable, the Trump administration nevertheless filed an appeal with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals hours after Illston issued her decision.
The case is just the latest in a string of court battles testing the limits of Trump's executive authority.
In court filings, his administration has argued that he has "inherent authority" to exercise control over those executing the nation's laws.
The government argued a temporary restraining order was inappropriate
In court on Friday, the Trump administration's lawyer, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Eric Hamilton, argued the plaintiffs' request for a temporary restraining order was inappropriate given how much time has lapsed since Trump first signed the executive order to reshape the government.
"Plaintiffs are not entitled to any TRO because they waited far too long to bring this motion and any 'emergency' is thus entirely of their own making," he and other attorneys wrote in an earlier court filing.
The plaintiffs' attorneys have argued that only now have they been able to ascertain what agencies are doing to carry out Trump's directives, given the secrecy with which his administration has been operating.
"They're trying to insulate from judicial review an unlawful set of instructions by not making public how they're being implemented," plaintiffs' lawyer Danielle Leonard told the court on Friday.
As part of her ruling, Illston ordered the Trump administration to provide the court and the plaintiffs with the restructuring plans submitted by the agencies named as defendants in the case, as well as such plans already approved by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management, by Tuesday, May 13.
Another argument Hamilton raised was one the government has cited in numerous other cases involving federal employees: that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. Instead, matters involving personnel issues within the federal government must be brought to the bodies Congress created to hear such complaints, he said.
Illston appeared unpersuaded by that argument, questioning Hamilton over whether the matter at hand — a radical overhaul of the entire government — was one Congress intended to go through those administrative channels.
Relief sought as layoffs had begun
The plaintiffs in the case, including the American Federation of Government Employees and several of its local branches, the American Public Health Association and the cities of Chicago, Baltimore and San Francisco, had sought relief as agencies had already begun mass layoffs.
Already, the plaintiffs' lawyers argued, agencies including the Departments of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs are executing plans "not based on their own independent analysis or reasoned decision-making" but instead in accordance with the president's executive order and accompanying instructions from Elon Musk's DOGE team, the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget.
The Trump administration has defended the executive order, arguing it merely provides direction in very broad terms, while making clear any actions taken must be "consistent with applicable law."
"This type of directive is a straightforward way for a President to exercise his undoubted authority to require a subordinate agency to determine what the law allows and then take whatever action is legally available to promote the President's priorities," the government's attorneys wrote in court filings.
In court, Leonard said the government's take was not an accurate description of the executive order.
"This is a mandatory order instructing agencies to begin RIFs now and to do so in the manner the president is directing," she said.
Judge Illston's 14-day temporary restraining order applies to the following agencies:
Office of Management and Budget
Office of Personnel Management
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of the Interior
Department of Labor
Department of State
Treasury Department
Department of Transportation
Department of Veterans Affairs
AmeriCorps
Environmental Protection Agency
General Services Administration
National Labor Relations Board
National Science Foundation
Small Business Administration
Social Security Administration
Department of Government Efficiency (not a formally established government agency)
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Just like the main stream media was tone-deaf to the damage they were doing to their own credibility over the years, now the judiciary is doing the same thing to itself.
I’ll be profoundly disappointed if this ruling is not only ignored, but not even acknowledged.
They have lifetime appointments, so they do not care what we think.................
More accurate headline would be: “Activist Judge attempts to insert him/herself where he/she has no business”.
Individual judges may not be effected, but they are doing great institutional damage. One would think the Supreme Court would want to keep its house in order, so to speak, but the rot is there, too.
The Republicans in Congress could put a stop to this crap but they won’t...................
There are something like 800 active federal judges. Evidently, any one of them can put a halt to activities in the entire country.
That’s crazy. Only a majority of the Supreme Court should have that power.
It would be nice if the GOP Congress would fix this, and soon. But of course they won’t. And that’s because too many Republicans are Deep Staters themselves.
🙁
Most likely the administration will just put everything on hold until there is an appeal.
It will not affect anything.
Federal employees will continue to signed DRP (deferred resignation program) agreements where they opt out of any litigation in exchange for several months of pay—and they resign.
RIF was always the very last step in the administration’s government downsizing effort—and the least important one.
To review—already completed actions:
—Back to office—convinced many federal employees to retire or quit
—Probationary employees firing—while the courts have made this on again off again most probationary employees got tired of the craziness and have already resigned using DRP
—Closing of offices, in DC and elsewhere—that eliminated many thousand of federal employees
—Closing of entire agencies, divisions
—DRP 1.0 and 2.0
This court decision is a very minor bump in the road.
SO WILL I!
One would think that the Supreme Court Justices themselves would be angry at these district judges trying to usurp their power.
If a judge in Podunk, Utah and issue nation-wide injunctions across multiple states outside their own districts, what do we need a Supreme Court for?
Roberts could put an end to this in one letter................
Where does it say that in the Constitution? Must be next to the word "Privacy".
Any single Federal judge anywhere can stop the President anytime. Amazing.
It’s hiding in the penumbra.......................
Enough of these black robes tyrants.
We voted for Trump’s agenda, and we will have it implemented.
Don’t think we won’t.
Is NPR still receiving gov’t funding? If so that needs to stop pronto.
The charade must play out until the last act...................
You can hold your cannon fire...these judges are mosquitos so it would be overkill.
Incredible level of ignorance.
This is a very serious and unprecedented attack upon, and usurpation of, the clearly enumerated powers of the Presidency by a rogue branch of government, which cannot be allowed to stand.
It's time for suspension of habeas corpus, a declaration of a national emergency, and institution of martial law. Then run these judges through the UCMJ. If this doesn't happen, and soon, we will have lost the country to a runaway and treasonous and seditious judiciary which will have accomplished an irreversible coup d'etat.
I say irreversible because I believe no American alive today (except perhaps for Trump) truly has the stomach to do what would need to be done to finally rid us of the cancer that is eating this country alive.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.