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Federal worker layoffs could be imminent

High court may vastly boost executive power

By: Erin Mansfield
and Sarah D. Wire
USA Today

..... President Donald Trump has seized the authority of lay off federal workers and reorganize the federal government in a way that critics say no preside has been able to do in more than 100 years.
..... The power, which the Supreme Court gave temporarily in a July 8 [2025] order, puts at risk thousands of federal jobs across the country at agencies hat collect taxes, provide health care to veterans, and help administer retirement benefits.
..... Labor unions says the cuts fly in the face of established law and decades of tradition, but a senior White House official told USA Today the layoffs are legal, and the administration intends to immediately reduce the size of government.
..... While the court did not rule on the underlying question of Trump's ability to enact widespread j9ob cuts, the justices said they were likely to affirm that power.
..... A final decision in favor of the president would continue a trend in which the executive branch increases its power in relation to Congress and the courts - making Trump and future presidents more powerful than they've been in generations.
..... The American Federation of Government Employees, a labor union that partnered with outside groups and local governments to sue the Trump administration, said the high court "has dealt a serious blow to our democracy and puts services that the American people rely on in grave jeopardy."

Green light for layoffs

..... Trump bean the mass layoffs, called a reduction in force, when he signed an executive order February 11 [2025] flanked by then-aide Elon Musk. The order called on agencies to begin a months-long process to reduce the ranks of government "to the extent applicable by law."
AFGE, the largest federal labor union, joined with other unions, nonprofit organizations and local governments on April 28 [2025] to sue the Trump administration, saying that it needed Congress; approval for mass layoffs.
..... A federal judge in California sided with the union in May [2025] and blocked the layoff plan at more than two dozen federal agencies while the policy was being challenged. The Trump administration told the Supreme Court this was an overreach and the high court agreed in a July 8 [2025] decision.
..... This gave a green light to layoffs until the high court decides to take up the underlying case. While the justices didn't issued a decision on the underlying issue, they said the Trump administration was "likely to succeed" in arguing the executive order was "lawful."
..... The senior White House official said agencies are now awaiting guidance on the next step in the layoff acting immediate. The official said some agencies had layoff plans before U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco took action, and now those plans are unparsed.
..... The agencies that are now free from Illston's block include Agriculture, commerce, Energy, health and Human Services, Justice, Labor, Treasury, State, Veterans Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Social Security Administration. some agencies may still be blocked form layoffs due to other pending cases.
..... The senior White House officials said they expect to be sued over individual agency layoff plans, which the Supreme Court decisions did not address, but the administration expects to win those lawsuits.
..... If agencies proceed with previously announced layoff plans, thousands of federal workers across the country could soon lose their jobs.
..... As part of the process, agencies offered employees buyouts and early retirement incentives. The VA, the largest civilian agency in the federal government, saw 17,000 employees resign since January [2025 and expects 12,000 more to leave by the end of September, [2024 according to VA Secretary Doug Collins.
..... As a result, Collins said the agency would not need to conduct widespread layoffs. A previously leaked memo said Veterans Affairs would lay off 76,000 people.

Dispute over firing power

..... Peter Shane, an adjunct professor at new York University School of Law, told USA Today that over the years Congress has given the president authority to move parts of agencies around but retained veto authority over the changes following the 1930s New Deal.
..... The Supreme Court ruled that veto authority unconstitutional in the 1980s. in response, Congress took back its reorganization authority. Shame called Trump's February [2025] executive order a "workaround."
..... "By forcing draconian cuts on champagnes, you can accomplish exactly what your organizational plans were intended accomplish, but without giving Congress any say," Shane said. "And that's why what the court is doing, or failing to do, has such dramatic implications for the balance of power."
..... Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow for the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the union's case was "astonishing: because presidential administrator have long implemented reductions in force, including when he worked for the government decades ago.
..... "It's not as if this is something new or unprecedented - and the idea that this is going to cause some kind of huge problem with the federal government being able to carry out its duties is also frankly ridiculous," von Spakovsky said.

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