The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals just dealt a blow to President Trump over mass firings he ordered earlier this year, claiming he doesn’t have the authority to issue such an order.
Both activist judges who ruled against Trump were appointed by Clinton and Biden, with the single dissenting judge being appointed by George W. Bush. The latter judge noted that the lower court, which issued the current injunction against Trump, had failed to find that Trump violated any actual statute while claiming his order “likely violate separation of powers.”
Amazing. Here’s more from the New York Post:
A federal appeals court upheld a legal pause on President Trump’s mass firings from various agencies, delivering the Republican administration another legal setback in reshaping the executive branch.
The San Francisco-based US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2-1 opinion Friday declined to let the Trump administration proceed with its staffing cuts, following a pause by a federal judge earlier this month to its reductions in force (RIFs) efforts overseen by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
At issue was Trump’s Feb. 13 executive order demanding the “large-scale reductions in force” to federal agencies, which prompted a coalition of unions, non-profits and local governments to sue.
“The Executive Order at issue here far exceeds the President’s supervisory powers under the Constitution,” wrote Circuit Judge William Fletcher, an appointee of former President Bill Clinton.
“The President enjoys significant removal power with respect to the appointed officers of federal agencies,” he added. “But even that power is not unlimited.”
The majority opinion, joined by Biden-appointed Circuit Judge Lucy Koh, also noted “cuts of up to 50%” of Department of Energy staff, the elimination of AmeriCorps volunteer youth programs and the layoffs of thousands of other probationary employees in the government.
Circuit Judge Consuelo Maria Callahan in a dissenting opinion charged that the plaintiffs were “bypassing the comprehensive administrative scheme that Congress has enacted to handle federal sector labor and employment disputes.”
“The district court nevertheless entertained Plaintiffs’ claims and concluded that the Executive’s actions likely violate separation of powers — without making any finding that any agency’s RIF is likely to violate any statute,” wrote Callahan, an appointee of former President George W. Bush.
“The court then entered a sweeping preliminary injunction that strips the Executive of control over its own personnel,” she disputed the lower court ruling, noting the Trump administration was likely to succeed in the case.
The Trump administration had previously asked the US Supreme Court to intervene and allow the federal workforce restructuring initiated by the Office of Personnel Management and the Office of Management and Budget — but the high court has yet to take up the case.
I am hoping, now that the Ninth Circuit has issued such a ridiculous ruling, that the Supreme Court will finally take up the case and overrule these activist judges once again. I can’t imagine they’d ignore such a huge issue of executive authority.