The judge said at the outset of the hearing that she intended to block the firings, unless the government could change her mind.
A federal judge on Oct. 15 temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to lay off certain federal employees during the government shutdown.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, of California’s Northern District, began a hearing on the matter by saying she was “inclined to grant the plaintiff’s motion,” but was open to arguments from the government that might change her mind.
Illston said the layoff plans were “politically-motivated,” and “arbitrary and capricious.”
The judge said the government appears to be taking advantage of the shutdown to “assume that all bets are off, that the laws don’t apply to them anymore.”
“Things are being done before they’re being thought through,” Illston said at the outset of Wednesday’s hearing.
“It’s very much ‘Ready, fire, aim.’”
The matter arises from an Oct. 4 lawsuit filed by several federal labor unions in response to the Trump administration’s stated intention to carry out RIFs—reductions in force—of furloughed employees while the government is shut down.
The suit references a memo sent by Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought just ahead of the shutdown, telling agencies to prepare for layoffs.
That memo interprets the Antideficiency Act—which governs shutdowns—to say that a temporary interruption of funding “eliminates the statutory requirement for all unfunded government programs.”
The judge started by asking Elizabeth Hedges, attorney for the government, if she thought the interpretation was legal or not.
Hedges told the court that she was unprepared to address the merits of the case at this early stage, and argued that the firings should instead be challenged before the Merit Systems Protection Board.
In response, the judge said: “This hatchet is falling on the heads of employees all across the nation, and you’re not even prepared to address whether that’s legal?”
Illston’s block lasts for two weeks. She also ordered the government to submit, within two business days, a list of employees who have been laid off, or will be laid off, as a result of Vought’s memo.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
