Photo: Alamy
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump to move forward with plans to reduce the size of the federal workforce, lifting lower court orders that had temporarily blocked the administration’s efforts to cut government jobs.
In a brief order, the justices granted a request from the Justice Department to stay injunctions that had halted the implementation of an executive order and agency guidance directing federal job reductions.
The court noted that no specific terminations or agency actions were before the justices at this stage; only the legality of the administration’s broad directives was before them. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenting justice.
The decision marks another legal victory for Trump as he advances his initiative to reshape the federal bureaucracy. The administration, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has pursued large-scale staffing reductions across a wide range of federal agencies.
“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling is another definitive victory for the President and his administration,” said White House spokesperson Harrison Fields.
“It clearly rebukes the continued assaults on the President’s constitutionally authorized executive powers by leftist judges who are trying to prevent the President from achieving government efficiency across the federal government,” he added.
Although no official tally has been released, estimates suggest at least 75,000 federal employees have left their positions through deferred resignation programs, and thousands of probationary workers have already been terminated. Others have been placed on administrative leave.
Earlier this year, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that large-scale workforce reductions required congressional approval. Her decision ordered multiple agencies to pause implementation of Trump’s February executive order and a subsequent memo from DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling in a 2-1 vote, citing concerns about potential disruptions to essential services, including food safety inspections and veterans’ healthcare.
The affected agencies include the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, the Interior, State, Treasury and Veterans Affairs. The order also extends to the Environmental Protection Agency, Social Security Administration, National Science Foundation and Small Business Administration.
The Supreme Court’s ruling means that the administration’s job-cutting directives can be enforced while legal challenges continue in lower courts. The case will now return to Judge Illston’s courtroom for further proceedings.
