Federal Judge Blocks Trump From More Layoffs During Shutdown

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s administration from laying off more government employees, after the administration had already pushed to cut thousands of workers during the U.S. government shutdown.

Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. district court’s northern district in California made the ruling. Illston, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1995, said the Trump Administration was thoughtlessly going about its layoffs.

“It’s very much ready, fire, aim on most of these programs, and it has a humancost,” Judge Illston said. “It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”

The judge’s ruling comes after a number of unions argued the “firings would be illegal and motivated by political retribution,” according to The New York Times.

It also follows the Trump Administration sending layoff notices to more than 4,000 employees on Oct. 10, with the cuts hitting the departments of Housing and Urban Development, Energy, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Commerce, and the Treasury.

President Trump last week said there would be “a lot” of layoffs and that they “should be Democrat-oriented” — a comment that was rebuked by Dems, union groups, and CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins.

The president, Collins said, was “taking an unprecedented step to maximize the pain of this government shutdown that is still dragging on, for people who played no part in shutting the government down.”

Vice President JD Vance, during an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News this past weekend, said the Trump Administration would be pursuing “deeper” government cuts. 

That plan has been blocked, at least temporarily, by Judge Illston’s ruling on Wednesday.