WASHINGTON, D.C. (Washington Examiner) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed President Donald Trump a victory by backing his plans to cut the federal workforce, a move that could lead to hundreds of thousands of firings for federal employees.
The justices overturned a lower court order that temporarily stalled the cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency. While the order was unsigned, it states that no specific job cuts were at issue before them in the case, only an executive order issued by Trump and an administrative directive for agencies to engage in job reductions.
Attorney General Pam Bondi reacted swiftly to the ruling, saying in a post on X that the Supreme Court thwarted “lawless lower courts from restricting President Trump’s authority over federal personnel.”
“Another Supreme Court victory thanks to Justice Department attorneys,” she added. “Now, federal agencies can become more efficient than ever before.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, dissented from the majority, hitting out against her colleagues for demonstrating “enthusiasm for greenlighting this president’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture.”
The decision came as a result of one of many emergency applications filed by the Trump administration, which has turned frequently to the high court’s mechanism for expedited relief, where the case is not decided on the merits. That process has so far proven fruitful for Trump’s efforts to reshape the federal government so far this year.
In just the first 20 weeks of this term, the Trump administration filed 19 emergency applications — equal to the number filed by the Biden administration across four years and far surpassing the eight filed during both Bush and Obama’s administrations combined.
Jackson’s rebuke follows one issued by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, last week when the Supreme Court cleared the way for a group of eight criminal illegal immigrants to be deported to South Sudan.
Sotomayor dissented in that July 3 decision, which also lacked a clear explanation by the majority, saying it “clarifies only one thing: Other litigants must follow the rules, but the administration has the Supreme Court on speed dial.”
Michael Fallings, a partner at Tully Rinckey who advises federal employees, said the decision sends a clear signal that the administration now has wide latitude to move forward with large-scale layoffs.
Fallings told the Washington Examiner that federal employees still retain the right to challenge terminations.
“There’s still processes in place to do so,” he said. “Now, how successful those will be? That’s the question.” He emphasized that the ruling “certainly helps the administration,” but he warned the implications for federal operations could be serious if duties are not reassigned quickly.
Agencies likely to be targeted for layoffs include the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, and Health and Human Services, Fallings said, based on his ongoing conversations with concerned clients.
“I have clients that work at the Veterans Affairs including the other agencies … and they’re concerned about their job security,” he added.
