The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that President Donald Trump may proceed with firing thousands of federal employees, helping him achieve a major campaign agenda item.
On Tuesday, the court issued an order lifting a preliminary injunction that had blocked President Trump’s executive order demanding widespread reductions across federal agencies. The court said the administration was likely to succeed in defending its authority to do so.
Susan Illston, a federal judge for the Northern District of California, blocked the ordered cuts, ruling that they would most likely violate the law. The administration submitted an emergency appeal in response, and were granted the ability to move forward.
The executive order came in February, and was backed by the Department of Government Efficiency, then headed by Elon Musk. During the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, Trump stated the need for government reductions, one of his major campaign promises.
He said, “We’re cutting down the size of government. We have to,” and that, “We’re bloated. We’re sloppy. We have a lot of people that aren’t doing their job.”
The executive order calls for reductions at dozens of agencies, including Agriculture, State, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and others.
White House spokesperson Harrison Fields stated, “Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling is another definitive victory for the President and his administration.”
He added that the victory represents a defense against “continued assaults on the President’s constitutionally authorized executive powers by leftist judges who are trying to prevent the President from achieving government efficiency.”
Solicitor General John Sauer also praised the court’s decision as “a necessary step toward budgetary discipline.” His statement highlights the administration’s goal of eliminating excessive personnel and streamlining government operations.
Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson offered a lone dissent of the opinion, stating that the move by the court “demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture.”
The court clarified that no specific reductions had been brought to the justices, only the executive order for agencies to cut workers.
During Trump’s second campaign, he focused on the need to reduce the size and scope of the deep state. He has supported the reinstatement of Schedule F, which would reclassify tens of thousands of federal jobs as political appointments, allowing the administration to fire the individuals.
Roughly 20 agencies are set to lay off workers, and the Department of Health and Human Services already released 10,000 workers in April. These cuts are a result of Trump’s longtime wishes to “drain the swamp” by reducing government agency staff. In total, the federal government employs roughly 3 million individuals.
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