Appeals court rules Trump administration can fire thousands of probationary federal workers

The Trump administration was given the green light to fire thousands of federal workers by an appeals court on Wednesday, overturning a lower court order that forced the government to reinstate terminated probationary employees. 

In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of judges on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals found that the Trump administration is “likely to succeed in showing the district court lacked jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims, and the Government is unlikely to recover the funds disbursed to reinstated probationary employees.”

The judges also cited Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling staying a similar preliminary injunction issued by the US District Court for the Northern District of California, which had commanded the Trump administration to rehire probationary workers fired from six government departments — Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs. 

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Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, and Allison Jones Rushing, an appointee of President Trump, ruled in favor of the Trump administration in the lawsuit brought by 20 Democratic state attorneys general. 

Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, dissented. 

The Democratic AGs argued that the mass firings violated federal law and would lead to irreparable harm, in the form of massive state expenses to support the terminated workers. 

The lawsuit claimed that at least 24,000 probationary employees – workers who have been on the job for less than a year – have been terminated since Trump took office.

The Trump administration countered that the states had no right to try to influence federal hiring and firing decisions but said it had reinstated about 15,000 employees as the litigation plays out. 

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Baltimore-based US District Judge James Bredar, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, ruled earlier this month that the Trump administration had not carried out the proper reduction-in-force procedures before moving to lay off workers at 20 federal agencies in the states that sued. He ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the fired workers. 

The appeals court order overturned Bredar’s injunction. 

The states suing the Trump administration are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.