Supreme Court Hands Trump a Big Win Over Government Unions in Fight Over Axing Thousands of Federal Employees
President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday scored its second major Supreme Court victory in two days.
With only two of the court’s most liberal justices dissenting, the court blocked a ruling by federal judge in San Francisco that ordered the administration to rehire the 16,000 probationary employees it’s terminated since Trump’s inauguration.
But another battle looms in Trump’s war to rein in the executive branch he leads.
The Supreme Court 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.
Read more: https://t.co/GN3Pjw2TN2 pic.twitter.com/AFAgIHcrkT
— ABC News (@ABC) April 8, 2025
Tuesday’s brief ruling by the high court stated that the nine groups that challenged the terminations — made up of government unions and nonprofit groups, according to ABC News — lacked standing in the case.
It overturned an injunction by U.S. District Judge William Alsup, in the District Court for the North District of California, that ordered the employees reinstated until the court fight over their firings is concluded.
“The District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case. But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” Tuesday’s SCOTUS ruling states.
Consistently liberal Justices Sonya Sotomayor — who was appointed in 2009 by then-President Barack Obama — and Ketanji Brown Jackson — who was appointed in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden — dissented.
The ruling doesn’t mean the administration has a clear path to move ahead with Trump’s campaign promise-keeping efforts to slash the federal workforce (a primary goal of the Department of Government Efficiency).
Another injunction issued by a federal judge in Maryland last week halted the firing of probationary employees, but it covers only workers in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that have sued the federal government, according to The Associated Press.
The states and the district claim the firings would lead to “irreparable burdens and expenses on the states and the district because they will have to support recently unemployed workers and review and adjudicate claims of unemployment assistance,” the AP reported.
That’s a legal fight that’s still to be hammered out by the Trump administration.
Still, Tuesday’s ruling was greeted with celebrations by conservatives.
Tom Fitton, president of the watchdog group Judicial Watch, called it a “JUDICIAL COUP PUSHBACK.”
JUDICIAL COUP PUSHBACK: Supreme Court rules 7-2 to stop Clinton judge — for now –from seizing power to force Trump to hire back thousands of fed workers. https://t.co/glAXs1Xovo
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) April 8, 2025
He wasn’t the only one who welcomed the news.
The conservative social media account Libs of TikTok called the development a “Massive Win.”
BREAKING: Supreme Court just BLOCKED Clinton appointed U.S. Judge William Alsup’s ruling which required the Trump admin to rehire thousands of fired workers across multiple agencies
MASSIVE WIN pic.twitter.com/6z9GhEjU1Y
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 8, 2025
It’s all coming apart for the left.
— Rooster (@Roostersbak) April 8, 2025
The Trump administration — still less than three months old — has had mixed success in the courts, where it’s faced leftist judges. But Tuesday’s win was the second in as many days.
On Monday, the court ruled 5-4 in the administration’s favor when it came to using the Alien Enemies Act, a law passed in the early days of the United States, to combat very modern international problems such as the Venezuelan-based transnational gang Tren de Aragua.
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