A federal judge ordered the administration to quit moving ahead with reductions in force, saying Wednesday that the law President Trump signed to reopen the government last month forbids them.
Judge Susan Illston, a Clinton appointee to the court in California, rejected the State Department’s claim that it had commenced the reductions well before the shutdown.
She said the stopgap spending bill, or continuing resolution, that Congress approved to reopen the government is broad enough to bar any reductions no matter when they began.
She also ordered that thousands of employees who were “RIF’d” during the shutdown be brought back to their same jobs and same pay.
Judge Illston gave the government until Tuesday to comply, which she said is enough time for the Justice Department to appeal her preliminary injunction.
“Today’s decision is another victory for federal employees and for the rule of law,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation for Government Employees. “The administration’s continued defiance of that mandate is part of a troubling pattern of egregious actions against federal employees and the American public.”
The language to block reductions in force was the one concession Democrats won when they caved on their resistance to reopening the government without a deal to extend pandemic-era Obamacare subsidies.
It has now emerged as a stumbling block to Mr. Trump’s plans.
Judge Illston said her blockade on firings lasts until Jan. 30, which is when the spending bill — and thus the new restrictions — expires.
Judge Illston had previously put a hold on reductions during the shutdown, but had been reluctant to go further and rescind the RIF notices themselves.
She said the spending bill language is clear enough that she now can.
“The court finds this is one of those rare cases where ‘the facts and law clearly favor the moving party’ and such relief is appropriate, in light of Congress’s clear instruction,” she wrote.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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