From mass deportations to mass layoffs, President Trump is fighting to defend a series of sweeping actions in the federal court system. After a string of setbacks from "activist" judges, Trump started to catch a break this week from the highest court in the land.
In a reversal, the Supreme Court blocked a lower court order forcing Trump to hire back 16,000 probationary federal workers.
Two of the liberal justices, Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson, would have kept the reinstatement order in place.
The court's brief, unsigned opinion noted that the plaintiffs, a coalition of public sector unions and non-profit organizations, do not have standing to bring the case. The federal workers themselves are not part of the lawsuit.
“The [California] District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case. But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” the unsigned order read.
“This order does not address the claims of the other plaintiffs, which did not form the basis of the District Court’s preliminary injunction.”
The Supreme Court's ruling offers Trump a reprieve from the flood of court injunctions that has jammed up much of his agenda. The administration has repeatedly complained about overreach from federal judges who are stepping on the president's executive authority.
Trump's purge of the federal workforce has sparked an outcry among Democrats and public sector unions, which comprise a strongly Democratic constituency. An appointee of President Clinton, Judge William Alsup, called Trump's firings a "sham" and ordered Trump to hire back employees at a number of federal agencies.
“There is no doubt that thousands of public service employees were unlawfully fired in an effort to cripple federal agencies and their crucial programs that serve millions of Americans every day,” the plaintiffs said in a statement responding to the Supreme Court's decision.
A day after the Supreme Court's intervention, a Virginia appeals court sided with Trump in a separate challenge to his firings.
A divided panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled James Bredar, an Obama appointee. The appeals court found the Democratic attorneys general who brought the case did not have standing.
Trump also scored significant wins on immigration this week, with the Supreme Court approving his use of the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport suspected gang members.
