SCOTUS Rules In Trump’s Favor On Fired Probationary Workers

At least temporarily

Supreme Court halts order to rehire probationary workers fired by Trump

The Supreme Court on Tuesday paused an order by a lower-court judge requiring the Trump administration to rehire about 16,000 fired probationary employees, at least a temporary victory for the president’s efforts to radically downsize the government and dismantle some agencies.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ruled last month that the government’s human resource agency, the Office of Personnel Management, had no legal authority to direct mass firings at the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs. Most of the workers had been on the job a year or two, but some were more veteran employees.

The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that Alsop’s order, which was based on the allegations of nine nonprofit groups, was improper because the groups did not have standing to sue, meaning they did not have a direct stake in the firings so they could not bring legal action. The high court’s order did not address allegations brought by workers’ unions that are also part of the lawsuit. The fired probationary workers were not parties to the legal action.

The impact of the ruling will be somewhat limited because a federal judge in Maryland issued a similar injunction last month against the firing of many of the same workers in 19 states and the District of Columbia. The Maryland ruling remains in effect and was not part of the high court’s decision.

If the POTUS cannot terminate employees for cause then what is the point of having a POTUS, when some random judge can decide they Do Not Agree with the duly elected POTUS?

Two liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said they would have denied the government’s application to pause the rehirings while litigation continues.

Surprised it wasn’t one of those two and Amy Coney Barrett.

“The District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case. But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” the majority wrote.

What do those non-profits have to do with it? Oh, right, they would have a tougher time getting the graft money?

The plaintiffs in the 9th Circuit said the Supreme Court ruling was “only a momentary pause” in their efforts to fight the firings.

“There is no doubt that thousands of public service employees were unlawfully fired in an effort to cripple federal agencies and their crucial programs that serve millions of Americans every day,” they said in a statement. “Today’s order by the U.S. Supreme Court is deeply disappointing but is only a momentary pause in our efforts to enforce the trial court’s orders and hold the federal government accountable.”

Yup, they want their grat money.

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