A pair of judges have ordered the U.S. government to rehire thousands of laid off workers, frustrating U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to quickly and drastically shrink the federal workforce.
The Trump administration has prioritized slashing the federal workforce, first offering employees financial incentives to join a deferred resignation plan and then implementing mass layoffs of probationary employees. More than 20,000 employees have been laid off to date.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) first gained access to NOAA in early February, and at the end of the month, the agency laid off hundreds of employees. The Associated Press and others reported earlier in March that the administration was preparing to lay off another 1,000 employees – roughly 10 percent of its workforce.
However, on 13 March, two federal judges ordered the government to hire back laid off employees before NOAA could implement any more layoffs.
The rulings come in response to two lawsuits – one brought by federal employee unions and one brought by attorneys general from Democrat-controlled states. Although the Department of Justice argued that the firings – which were targeted at probationary workers who have been on the job less than two years and have fewer protections – were over performance issues, U.S. District Judge William Alsup disputed that claim.
“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that is a lie,” Alsup said in announcing his ruling, according to the Associated Press.
The Trump administration has vowed to challenge the judge’s order, arguing that the judges had overstepped.
“A single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the Executive Branch,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch; singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the President’s agenda. If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for President themselves.”
Democrat lawmakers and former NOAA officials have decried the layoffs at the agency, predicting that the staff cuts will impact the agency’s ability to carry out fisheries management and implement protections for marine life.
“I was just meeting with the shellfish industry; these folks are absolutely apoplectic because they're a highly regulated industry that depends ... on NOAA for mission-critical science because things like ocean acidification, which is being driven by climate change, are going to determine whether they can even grow shellfish,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) said shortly after the first round of layoffs. “So, an entire industry is working super closely with scientists at NOAA in an existential effort to keep alive and get ahead of these climate impacts. I met yesterday with commercial fishermen because things like stock assessments and other critical signs that they depend on in a highly regulated industry just to operate are frozen and in a complete state of limbo.”
