A federal judge lifted his order that had blocked President Trump from carrying out a mass shakeup at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Judge Carl Nichols on Friday said his court has no jurisdiction to rule on Mr. Trump’s order putting most UDAID workers on administrative leave.

Employees must challenge those moves through the standard federal process for disputing personnel decisions such as the Federal Labor Relations Authority, he said.

Judge Nichols also said much of the early speculation about Mr. Trump’s move hasn’t panned out. Fears of employees and their families being ripped away from foreign locations in the middle of kids’ school years or personal medical situations are unfounded, based on what is now known.

And while employees fear forced administrative leave is a precursor to them losing their jobs, the judge said that is speculation right now.

“The government has reiterated that its intent in placing USAID employees on administrative leave is to conduct a thorough ’audit’ of the agency’s spending,” he wrote.

Judge Nichols had placed a hold on the Trump move, giving the president’s opponents a chance to make their case. His order Friday lifts that hold.

In his ruling Friday, the judge acknowledged that “harsh consequences” could result from the personnel moves and Mr. Trump’s 90-day pause on foreign assistance spending. But he said the Trump administration also has an interest in making sure the agency’s spending is “aligned with American interests.”

“Where one side claims that USAID’s operations are essential to human flourishing and the other side claims they are presently at odds with it, it simply is not possible for the Court to conclude, as a matter of law or equity, that the public interest favors or disfavors an injunction,” the judge said.

Mr. Trump and his team have placed USAID high on their list of federal targets to be reined in.

Trump officials say the agency is rife with misspending and fraud, including funding questionable LGBTQ projects in foreign nations and, in one case, allowing millions of dollars in food aid to be diverted to terrorists in Syria.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.