Tens of thousands of fired federal workers must be reinstated immediately, judge rules

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. Judge orders Trump officials to offer jobs back to fired probationary workers

These firings were all in violation of the Reduction in Force Act. This judge is really pissed at the DOJ and is accusing them of lying

Link to tweet

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/03/13/trump-probationary-federal-worker-firings-judge-ruling/

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to offer jobs back to all probationary employees who were fired last month from the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury and Veterans Affairs under directions by the Office of Personnel Management, a ruling that could reinstate thousands of employees who were ousted as part of the president’s push to slash the federal workforce.

Judge William Alsup said at a hearing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that OPM — which serves as the federal government’s human resources agency — had no legal authority to direct the mass firings in phone calls and written communications last month. He added that individual agencies could follow the steps laid out in a federal law called the Reduction in Force Act to pare back their staffs.

The ruling marked the most significant challenge so far to President Donald Trump’s effort to shrink and reshape the sprawling, 2.3-million person federal workforce. Alsup also extended a temporary restraining order he had granted last month to a group of labor unions and advocacy groups who sued over the terminations.

This judge is accusing the DOJ of lying and presenting false documents

Alsup castigated a Justice Department attorney arguing on behalf of the Trump administration for submitting “sham” documents and “stonewalling” efforts to gather facts and testimony, incensed that the acting director of OPM, Charles Ezell, refused to testify in court Thursday as the judge had previously ordered.

“I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth,” Alsup told Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelsey Helland, the lone Justice Department lawyer at the hearing.

“You will not bring the people here to be cross-examined,” the judge said. “You’re afraid to do so, because … it would reveal the truth. This is the U.S. District Court. … I’ve been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years, and I know how we get to the truth.”

Lying to a federal judge is never a good idea