Trump administration again comes to the Supreme Court seeking large-scale reductions in the federal workforce 

The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday afternoon, making another request to pause an order by a federal judge in San Francisco that bars the Trump administration from implementing an executive order calling for large-scale reductions in the federal workforce. 

In Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer had asked the justices to put an earlier order by Senior U.S. District Judge Susan Illston on hold last month. But Sauer withdrew that request on May 23, after Illston issued a preliminary injunction to replace the temporary restraining order that she had issued on May 9. 

In his new filing on Monday, which repeats many of the same arguments that he made in his original filing on May 16, Sauer told the justices that Illston’s order “inflicts ongoing and severe harm on the government calling for this Court’s intervention.” The order, he continued, “interferes with the Executive Branch’s internal operations and unquestioned legal authority to plan and carry out RIFs, and does so on a government-wide scale.” 

At the center of the case is an executive order issued by President Donald Trump in February that directs federal agencies to “promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force (RIFs), consistent with applicable law.” 

A group of labor unions, local governments, and advocacy groups went to federal court in San Francisco, seeking to block the government from implementing the order. Illston issued a temporary restraining order that prohibited the Trump administration from planning or proceeding with any RIFs, and she also directed the government to provide the plaintiffs with documents related to the RIFs. 

The Supreme Court did not act on the Trump administration’s request or instruct the plaintiffs to file a response to Sauer’s May 16 filing. Instead, on May 23, Sauer withdrew the request, telling the justices that Illston had issued a preliminary injunction to replace the May 9 temporary restraining order. The government had appealed that injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Sauer wrote. 

After a divided panel of the 9th Circuit rejected the government’s request to put Illston’s new order on hold, Sauer returned to the Supreme Court on Monday, once again asking the justices to intervene. He also asked the justices to issue an administrative stay, which would put Illston’s order on hold while the justices consider Sauer’s request. 

The court has instructed the plaintiffs to file their response by noon on Monday, June 9.