Federal Judge Rules Trump Mass Firing Order Was 'Illegal' and 'Should Be Stopped' | Common Dreams
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The Office of Personnel Management "does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency," wrote Judge William Alsup.

It was unclear, however, whether Alsup’s ruling would do much to stem the Trump administration’s sweeping purge of the federal workforce, as it was limited to agencies directly involved in the case. It was also not clear that the ruling would result in fired probationary employees getting their jobs back.

According toBloomberg Law, “the judge listed the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Science Foundation among the agencies that are barred from engaging in layoffs ordered by OPM.”

Politiconoted that “Alsup stopped short of ordering the agencies to reinstate the fired workers or to halt looming firing,” saying he “doesn’t currently have the authority to do that.”

  • sugar_in_your_teaEnglish
    2·
    3 hours ago

    pushing the limits of the laws we do have as far as they can go

    That just establishes precedent so the next batch can push it even further. It’s why the Executive Branch has so much power, the Executive keeps pushing and we’re all “surprised pikachu” when the other party abuses that new power in ways we don’t like.

    That’s why we have norms and the rule of law. The ends don’t justify the means. Do the hard thing and pass a law, don’t reward copping out by relying on judges and executives to “push the limits” in a way you like, because the next group will use it in ways you don’t.

    The only reason Trump has power to break the law is because we’ve given the Executive Branch that privilege over years of “but this time is different.”