Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Firing Workers During Shutdown

by LC Staff Writer | Oct 19, 2025
Photo Source: Mehmet Eser/AFP via Getty Images via npr.com

A federal judge in California has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from carrying out mass layoffs of federal employees during the ongoing government shutdown, in what is the first judicial order to restrain the White House’s effort to downsize the federal workforce during a funding lapse.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued the ruling Wednesday in San Francisco, granting a request by the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees for an emergency order halting layoffs at more than 30 federal agencies. The order will remain in effect while the court considers the unions’ claims that the firings violate federal law and will continue until October 28, when the court is scheduled to hold another hearing to determine whether the block should remain in place.

At the hearing, Illston cited statements by President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought that described the layoffs as targeting “Democrat-oriented” agencies. The judge said such motives appeared to conflict with constitutional and statutory limits on executive authority. “You cannot do that in a nation of laws,” Illston said from the bench, adding that the administration’s justification for the layoffs was “not within the law.”

The White House and the Office of Management and Budget have said that more than 4,000 employees have already received termination notices, and that as many as 10,000 federal workers could ultimately be affected. The layoffs began earlier this month after the administration directed agencies to treat the shutdown as an opportunity to reduce personnel under the president’s workforce-reduction plan.

The Justice Department argued that the unions must first raise their claims with a federal labor board before filing in court. Illston rejected that position, saying the case concerns the legality of executive actions during a lapse in appropriations. “The hatchet is falling on the heads of employees all across the nation, and you are not even prepared to address whether that is legal,” she said, addressing a Justice Department lawyer during the hearing.

Democracy Forward, the legal group representing the unions, called the ruling a significant victory for federal workers. “Our civil servants do the work of the people, and playing games with their livelihoods is cruel and unlawful,” said Skye Perryman, the organization’s president and chief executive officer.

Illston ordered the administration to submit by Friday, October 17, an accounting of any actual or planned layoffs and to outline steps being taken to comply with the court’s injunction. In response, the government filed reports from more than thirty agencies describing which layoffs had been paused. The filings showed that work was suspended on a limited number of the announced reductions, including hundreds of employees at the Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, and just over one hundred at the Census Bureau. Officials said most other layoffs would continue because they believed the court’s order applied only to employees represented by the plaintiff unions.

During a follow-up status conference on Friday, Judge Illston cautioned that agencies should not move forward with any reductions while the restraining order remains in effect and urged them to “err on the side of caution.” Attorneys for the unions argued that the administration had interpreted the ruling too narrowly, excluding employees whose bargaining rights had been revoked under a recent presidential directive. The court agreed to clarify the order to ensure those workers are covered and later allowed three additional unions to join the case, expanding the scope of protection under the temporary block.

The Justice Department said the government is complying with the order and doing everything possible to meet the court’s requirements. The next hearing on October 28 will determine whether the temporary restraining order should be extended into a longer injunction.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later criticized the decision and defended the administration’s actions as lawful.

The ruling offers temporary relief to federal employees affected by the partial government shutdown, now in its eighteenth day.

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LC Staff Writer
LC Staff Writer
Law Commentary’s Staff Writers are dedicated legal professionals and journalists who excel at making complex legal topics accessible and relatable. They are committed to providing clear, accurate commentary that helps readers understand the impact of legal news on their daily lives.