A U.S. appeals court on Friday refused to pause a judge's ruling requiring the Trump administration to reinstate 25,000 workers at 18 federal agencies who lost their jobs as part of the Republican president's purge of the federal workforce.
A panel of the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there was no reason to pause the decision because the judge in Baltimore is expected to decide next week whether to extend it further, in a lawsuit brought by 19 Democrat-led states and Washington, D.C.
U.S. District Judge James Bredar last week said the agencies that engaged in mass firings of probationary employees did not follow the required procedures for conducting layoffs of federal workers, and temporarily ordered their reinstatement.
The states on Thursday moved for a preliminary injunction that would leave Bredar's ruling in place pending the outcome of the lawsuit or appeals, which could take months or longer to resolve. Bredar has scheduled a hearing for March 26.
The Trump administration in court filings on March 17 said the agencies were working to reinstate the fired employees, while temporarily placing them on paid leave.
The 18 agencies involved in the case include the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services and the Treasury Department.
The White House and the agencies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The office of Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, which is spearheading the lawsuit, did not immediately have a comment.
Probationary employees typically have less than one year, and sometimes less than two years, of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees.
The mass firings of probationary workers were the first step in broader efforts by Trump and top adviser Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal workforce and slash government spending.
Most agencies have said they fired a few hundred probationary workers, but others terminated far more. The Treasury Department fired about 7,600 people, the Department of Agriculture about 5,700 and the Department of Health and Human Services more than 3,200, according to court filings.
The states in their lawsuit claim the mass firings were improper because agencies failed to follow a federal regulation requiring them to give state and local governments 60 days notice of mass layoffs, and will lead to a spike in unemployment claims and demand for social services.
On March 13, hours before Bredar issued his ruling, a judge in San Francisco separately ordered that probationary workers at six agencies be reinstated, but on different legal grounds. That case involves five of the agencies subject to Bredar's ruling and the U.S. Department of Defense.
The Trump administration has appealed that decision and asked a San Francisco-based appeals court to pause it pending the outcome of the case.
The judges' rulings did not bar agencies from firing probationary workers, but took issue with the manner in which the terminations were conducted.
On Friday, Trump-appointed 4th Circuit Judge Allison Rushing wrote separately that while it would not be appropriate to block Bredar's ruling at the moment, the judge lacked the authority to order reinstatements nationwide rather than only in the states that sued.
"The district court lost sight of who the Plaintiffs are and what injury they claim when it concluded a nationwide injunction was warranted," Rushing wrote.
The three-judge panel also includes judges appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan, a Republican, and Joe Biden, a Democrat.
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