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US judge says Trump cannot downsize federal agencies without approval from Congress
The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause Illston's temporary ruling, saying she improperly infringed on Trump's constitutional powers to control the executive branch.
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Reuters - Thu, 22, May 2025
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FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators protest outside the Center for Disease Control, in Atlanta, after the Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies under the Department of Health and Human Services, including the FDA, CDC and the National Institutes of Health, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. April 1, 2025. / REUTERS/Megan Varner/File Photo
A federal judge on May 22 said President Donald Trump's administration cannot restructure and downsize the U.S. government without the consent of Congress and that she would likely extend her ruling blocking federal agencies from implementing mass layoffs.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston during a hearing in San Francisco agreed with a group of unions, nonprofits and municipalities that layoffs that began last month are likely illegal and would cause widespread harm to the public.
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The layoffs of tens of thousands of staff across the federal government are a critical piece of a push by the Republican president and billionaire adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency to shrink the federal government and drastically cut spending.
Illston on May 9 blocked about 20 agencies from engaging in mass layoffs for two weeks and required the reinstatement of workers who had already lost their jobs. That order is set to expire on May 23, and the judge at the hearing said she was inclined to extend it "with some refinement."
“Agencies may not conduct reductions in force in blatant disregard of congressional mandates, whether the president orders them to or not,” Illston, an appointee of Democratic former President Bill Clinton, said at the beginning of the hearing.
The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to pause Illston's temporary ruling, saying she improperly infringed on Trump's constitutional powers to control the executive branch.
Andrew Bernie, a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Justice, told Illston on May 22 that federal agencies have broad authority to implement large-scale layoffs. And he said that Trump's executive order merely asked agencies to determine what cuts can be made and did not direct any concrete actions such as layoffs or office closures that plaintiffs could sue over at this point.
“Those decisions will be disclosed when they are made, and when they are made, the plaintiffs can challenge them. Indeed, the plaintiffs have challenged individual decisions,” Bernie said, citing pending lawsuits involving cuts at the departments of Education, Health and Human Services and Homeland Security.
Illston was skeptical and questioned Bernie's claim that the executive order merely urged agencies to study whether cuts are appropriate.
“It’s entitled ‘Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative,'” Illston said. “'Implementing.' It’s not ‘advising about how you might consider.’”
Danielle Leonard, who represents the plaintiffs, said directives from Trump and other White House officials made clear that agencies had little say in whether to gut their workforces.
“They are saying what to cut, when to cut, where to cut, and all they’re asking the agencies to do is come forward with a plan,” she said.
The case involves the departments of Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Treasury, Commerce, State and Veterans Affairs, among others.
Trump has urged agencies to eliminate duplicative roles, unnecessary management layers, and non-critical jobs while automating routine tasks, closing regional offices and reducing the use of outside contractors.
Roughly 260,000 federal workers, most of whom have taken buyouts, have left or will leave by the end of September. And deep cuts are earmarked for several agencies, including over 80,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs and 10,000 at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Dozens of lawsuits have challenged the administration's efforts, and Illston's ruling earlier this month was the broadest of its kind so far.
Another judge's March ruling requiring agencies to reinstate nearly 25,000 probationary employees, who typically have been in their current roles for less than a year or two, has been paused by an appeals court.
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