A federal judge on Tuesday questioned whether he had the authority to pause President
Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in a Tuesday hearing pointed to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which mediates disagreements between agencies and their employees, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which enforces labor laws for the federal workforce, as options.
Allie Giles, who argued for the unions, said the panels don’t have the power to quickly stop government-wide firings. “We would not be here today if it was one employee,” Giles said.
Since a Feb. 11 executive order directing agencies to shrink their ranks, the Trump administration has discharged thousands of employees nationwide, including those that regulate public health, aviation safety, and banking.
The National Treasury Employees Union, National Federation of Federal Employees, and three other unions want Cooper, an Obama appointee, to pause that order. They argued that the firings will diminish the dues revenue they collect from members.
NTEU represents about 150,000 federal employees and NFFE represents 110,000, according to their initial complaint.
The plan for mass firings and layoffs comes as the Trump administration moved to undermine both the MSPB and FLRA by terminating their leaders and creating partisan deadlocks at both agencies.
Former FLRA Chair Susan Grundmann said in a Feb. 13 lawsuit that the president unlawfully fired her. Trump also fired Democratic MSPB member Cathy Harris, but she won a temporary court order Tuesday reinstating her.
The case is Nat’l Treasury Employees Union v. Trump, D.D.C., 1:25-cv-00420, hearing 2/18/25.
To contact the reporter on this story:
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Learn more about Bloomberg Tax or Log In to keep reading:
Learn About Bloomberg Tax
From research to software to news, find what you need to stay ahead.
Already a subscriber?
Log in to keep reading or access research tools.