President Donald Trump can begin firing federal workers again after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor on Wednesday.
Several leftist organizations have filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to eliminate wasteful spending while streamlining government operations.
But after the Supreme Court issued a similar ruling, it appears the efforts to stop the administration from cutting federal staff have failed.
From Politico:
A federal appeals court has cleared the way for the Trump administration to resume firing thousands of probationary government employees, lifting a lower-court judge’s order that had blocked most of the mass terminations.
A divided three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded Wednesday that the coalition of Democratic attorneys general who brought the case appeared to lack legal standing to challenge the firings.
The appeals court’s 2-1 ruling came one day after the Supreme Court lifted another judge’s order blocking the dismissal of some of the same federal workers, also on standing grounds. That leaves no remaining legal impediment, for now, to the effort by Trump administration leaders to shrink the federal workforce by summarily firing large swaths of employees across nearly 20 major federal agencies.
Judges Allison Rushing, a Trump appointee, and Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, agreed that the Democratic attorneys general lacked standing. Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, a Biden appointee, dissented, arguing that the AGs had a legitimate basis to bring the lawsuit on behalf of their states.
🚨🚨🚨Fourth Circuit grants stay of injunction ordering reinstatement of probationary employees. 1/ pic.twitter.com/fjQ4Yddbjf
— Margot Cleveland (@ProfMJCleveland) April 9, 2025
U.S. District Judge James Bredar ruled earlier that the Trump administration to reinstate federal workers it had fired earlier this year. The recent ruling comes after 19 states and the District of Columbia sued multiple federal agencies. The plaintiffs accused the White House of failing to give the states 60-day notice about the mass terminations that is required by law.
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The ruling reverses the previous ruling, noting that “the Government is likely to succeed in showing the district court lacked jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims.”
The court acknowledged the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning an order requiring the Trump administration to rehire the workers it had fired.
Circuit Judge DeAndrea Gist Benjamin dissented from the ruling, arguing that the plaintiffs demonstrated standing due to the harm caused by the mass firings. She noted that it created “an increase in unemployment benefits applications” and “the loss of support from federal employees who were working with various state agencies.”
Benjamin further argued, “The Government’s monetary injury, if any, is ‘self-imposed,’” and that “Requiring the federal government to adhere to statutory notice requirements as set forth by federal law can hardly be considered ‘micromanaging.’”
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