Supreme Court clears way for mass firings at federal agencies

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration can move forward with plans to slash the federal workforce and dismantle federal agencies, the U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday. The decision could result in job losses for tens of thousands of employees at agencies including the departments of Housing and Urban Development, State and Treasury.

The order, which lifted a lower court’s ruling that had blocked mass layoffs, was unsigned and did not include a vote count. That is typical in such emergency applications. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a public dissent.

The case represents a key test of the extent of President Donald Trump’s power to reorganize the government without input from Congress. The justices’ order is technically only temporary, guiding how the administration can proceed while the challenge to Trump’s plans continues. But in practice, it means he is free to pursue his restructuring plans, even if judges later determine that they exceed presidential power.

In a two-paragraph order, the justices wrote that they had concluded that “the government is likely to succeed on its argument” that Trump’s executive order announcing plans to downsize the government was legal. The justices added that they did not express a view on the legality of specific layoffs or reorganizations by the Trump administration.

It was the latest in a series of recent victories for the Trump administration before the Supreme Court on emergency requests related to the president’s efforts to rapidly reshape government.

The decision followed a major ruling on June 27, when the Supreme Court limited the ability of judges to block Trump’s policies nationwide.

In recent weeks, the justices have issued other emergency decisions allowing members of the Department of Government Efficiency to gain access to sensitive records of millions of Americans held by the Social Security Administration; ending a humanitarian program intended to give temporary residency to more than 500,000 immigrants from countries facing war and political turmoil; and granting, for now, Trump’s request to remove the leaders of two independent agencies.

The emergency application on mass firings across federal agencies arose from an executive order, signed by Trump in February, that directed officials to begin putting together plans for “large-scale” cuts to the federal workforce.

Among those affected immediately are nearly 2,000 employees at the State Department who have been targeted for layoffs as part of a reduction in force. Those layoffs have been on hold since the preliminary injunction.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.