‘You can’t do this in a nation of laws’: Judge blocks Trump’s layoffs during federal shutdown, calls them illegal
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘You can’t do this in a nation of laws’: Judge blocks Trump’s layoffs during federal shutdown, calls them illegal")
US President Donald Trump Photograph: (AFP)
The judge said the Trump administration had taken advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, the laws don’t apply to them anymore, and they can impose the structures that they like on the government situation that they don’t like.
A federal judge on Wednesday paused job cuts for thousands of American workers on Wednesday by granting a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from laying off federal workers during the government shutdown, which has now stretched to two weeks. Two workers’ unions had sued the Trump administration last month ahead of the shutdown after the White House signalled a plan to lay off workers through “reductions in force” (RIFs) at federal agencies. US District Judge Susan Illston granted a request by two unions to stop layoffs at more than 30 agencies. During a hearing on Wednesday, a federal judge in the Northern District of California granted the unions’ motion to issue a temporary restraining order preventing the layoffs, which began on Friday.
“The activities that are being undertaken here are contrary to the laws,” US District Judge Susan Yvonne Illston said. “You can’t do this in a nation of laws.”
The judge said President Donald Trump and his top aides have made several remarks showing explicit political motivations for the layoffs, like Trump saying that cuts would target “Democrat agencies”.
‘Things being articulated here are not within the law’
“You can’t do that in a nation of laws. And we have laws here, and the things that are being articulated here are not within the law,” said Illston, an appointee of Democratic former President Bill Clinton.
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
Illston said that the Trump administration had “taken advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, the laws don’t apply to them anymore, and they can impose the structures that they like on the government situation that they don’t like.”
Also Read: ‘Peace comes through strength’: Hegseth warns Russia of ‘costs’ if Ukraine war does not end
Illston said that she believed the plaintiffs can demonstrate that the Trump administration’s actions were illegal, in excess of authority and “arbitrary and capricious.”
Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Themins Hedges argued that employment-related harms were “reparable” and that losing employment was not an “irreparable harm”.
Senate rejects GOP-backed spending bill for ninth time
Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday rejected a GOP-backed spending bill for the ninth time. The legislation would have extended government funding until Nov. 21. But Democrats continue to demand additional health care funding to overturn Medicaid cuts and extend tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
WATCH: South Korean student dies after severe torture by three Chinese suspects
The longest previous shutdown lasted 35 days between December 2018 and January 2019, during Trump’s first term.
