A federal judge in San Francisco is dragging the Trump administration back into court for an emergency hearing on Friday afternoon, after union lawyers warned that thousands more federal employees could still be fired next week, in apparent defiance of a court order that temporarily froze shutdown-era layoffs.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Bill Clinton appointee, issued a bench ruling that barred agencies from “taking any action” to issue or implement reduction-in-force notices during the government shutdown, then followed with a seven-page order that laid out her reasoning.
Illston’s language was blistering. “If what plaintiffs allege is true, then the agencies’ actions in laying off thousands of public employees during a government shutdown, and in targeting for RIFs those programs that are perceived as favored by a particular political party, is the epitome of hasty, arbitrary and capricious decisionmaking,” she wrote. The judge added that the unions are likely to succeed on their claim that OPM and OMB guidance pushing shutdown-related RIFs “rests on illegal grounds.”
The ruling came after agencies began issuing thousands of layoff notices late last week, a gambit the White House has framed as part of its broader push to shrink the federal workforce during the stalemated funding fight. In court filings and public statements, officials have struggled to pin down the scope, first telling the court that about 4,200 notices went out, then revising figures as some agencies rescinded actions. OMB Director Russ Vought has said the final total could be “north of 10K.”
On Thursday night, the American Federation of Government Employees sounded the alarm that the Department of the Interior may press ahead anyway, warning of “widespread reduction-in-force notices” as soon as Monday, October 20. In a supporting declaration, plaintiffs’ attorney Danielle Leonard wrote that “multiple credible sources” said Interior was “actively preparing a large-scale reduction in force,” including a journalist who claimed inside sources working on the plan. That filing prompted Illston to fast-track an emergency session to probe whether agencies are complying with her order.
The case, brought by AFGE and AFSCME, challenges the legality of using a funding lapse to permanently cut rank-and-file civil servants. Illston’s order pauses RIFs across programs with union-represented employees at more than 30 agencies, and requires the administration to turn over detailed RIF plans and certify compliance. News outlets including the Associated Press, Reuters, and The Washington Post reported that the judge faulted the government’s shifting numbers and procedural missteps as evidence of a chaotic process.
Union leaders hailed the ruling as a necessary brake on politically charged job cuts that could hollow out public services. The administration, for its part, has insisted it will follow the court’s directive, even as it argues that layoffs are a lawful response to the shutdown and continues to prepare additional workforce reductions pending further court action.
With the shutdown stretching into its third week, the stakes for the federal workforce, and for the services millions rely on, remain enormous. Friday’s emergency hearing will test not just the administration’s promises, but the durability of a TRO that the judge has already warned agencies they violate at their peril.
