WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Baltimore Sun) — The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday to allow President Donald Trump’s administration to move forward with his plan to thin out the federal workforce, which the White House has said will make the government “more efficient and effective.”
The Republican president has repeatedly said voters gave him a mandate for the work, and he tapped billionaire ally Elon Musk to lead the charge through DOGE. Musk recently left his role.
“Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling is another definitive victory for the President and his administration. 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,” White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said in a statement.
Tuesday’s ruling came after lawyers for the Trump administration filed a request with the Supreme Court in early June. It lifted a May order issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which had blocked sweeping layoffs.
The court said in an unsigned order that no specific cuts were in front of the justices, only an executive order issued by Trump and an administration directive for agencies to undertake job reductions.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued the only dissent Tuesday, citing that Trump “sharply departed” from the settled practice of receiving congressional authorization before reorganizing facets of the federal government.
Federal employment law attorney Stephanie Rapp-Tully, a partner at Tully Rinckey PLLC in Washington, D.C., said that Tuesday’s action by the Supreme Court is not a determination of the legality of the Trump administration’s executive order, but simply allows the administration to move forward with its plans to reduce the size of government agencies while the case is still pending.
Rapp-Tully said that the case will now go back to the district court, where attorneys for both sides will argue the legality of Trump’s executive order. She said the decision in the lawsuit will likely go to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and, ultimately, back to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“But those determinations — those findings — have not been made yet,” Rapp-Tully said.
There are multiple lawsuits filed in the federal court system regarding the firing of federal workers under DOGE, including a case led by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, a Democrat. The Brown-led lawsuit is awaiting a decision in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals as to whether a panel of judges will review a previous decision.
Rapp-Tully emphasized that Tuesday’s decision does not impact the due process rights of federal employees who may receive reduction-in-force notices.
“Employees need to take it day-by-day, and respond to the actual information they’re getting — the documents they get, the notices they get — and try not to assume and lead with fear,” she said. “That would just be my guidance.”
Plaintiffs in the case allege that Trump’s move to fire large swaths of the federal workforce without congressional approval is unconstitutional.
