WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Trump administration can move forward with the termination of 16,000 probationary federal workers across six agencies and departments, rescinding a lower court order that they be reinstated as litigation challenging the layoffs continues.
In a brief, unsigned order, the court said the nine labor unions and nonprofit groups that had challenged the firings lacked standing in the matter. The groups’ “allegations [of harm] are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” the order read.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated that they would have denied Trump’s request.
A federal judge last month ordered the administration to reinstate the affected employees at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior and the Department of Treasury.
The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the judge’s order, arguing the plaintiffs lacked standing and had “hijacked the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce.”
The unions had asked the Supreme Court to preserve the district court judge’s order that those workers be reinstated because of the imminent harm that would come from termination.
“Because probationary employees include not only those new to the government but also those recently promoted, agencies lost experienced individuals and directors of programs and were left with arbitrary and unexpected gaps in critical functions,” they wrote in their brief. “The reverberations throughout agencies and impacts on services were dramatic and immediate.”
On Tuesday, the coalition of unions called the Supreme Court order “deeply disappointing” but vowed to continue fighting the terminations.
“Despite this setback, our coalition remains unwavering in fighting for these workers who were wronged by the administration, and in protecting the freedoms of the American people. This battle is far from over,” the coalition said in a statement.
ABC’s Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
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