As part of Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s strategy to reduce the government’s staff, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the US government to rescind mass firings, according to media reports.
The decision orders the Office of Personnel Management to revoke orders that were delivered to several government agencies, which led to the termination of thousands of employees.
“The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever under any statute in the history of the universe to hire and fire employees at another agency,” US District Judge William Alsup said, according to The Washington Post.
“Congress has given the authority to hire and fire to the agencies themselves. The Department of Defense, for example, has statutory authority to hire and fire,” he said at the federal court in San Francisco.
The decision is the most recent judicial setback to Trump’s attempts to overthrow the US government.
It comes weeks after a court suspended his executive order eliminating the constitutional promise of birthright citizenship, and days after another West Coast district judge blocked his ban on refugee admissions.
The decision was made Thursday after advocacy organizations and unions filed a lawsuit alleging that federal agencies had unlawfully ordered the termination of all probationary employees.
Even if a federal employee has been promoted from a lower rank, they are nonetheless regarded as probationary for their first or second year of employment.
The order affected tens of thousands of people.
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