A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from proceeding with layoffs of around 4,100 federal employees during the ongoing government shutdown, ruling the actions unlawful and politically motivated.
Judge Susan Illston criticised the administration for exploiting the shutdown as an excuse to bypass established laws, citing public remarks by President Donald Trump and White House Budget Director Russell Vought that suggested the cuts targeted Democratic programmes.
The injunction prevents further layoffs and stops the issuance of new layoff notices across more than 30 federal agencies while the case moves through the courts.
Agencies, including Treasury and Health and Human Services, had begun notifying employees before the ruling, impacting key departments such as the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Vought had indicated the administration aimed to cut over 10,000 federal jobs during the shutdown, using the funding lapse to restructure government operations aggressively.
Unions representing the workers condemned the layoffs as politically motivated and unlawful, with advocacy group Democracy Forward calling the tactics “cruel” and harmful to civil servants.
This ruling came on the fifteenth day of the shutdown, while Senate efforts to pass temporary funding had repeatedly failed.
The decision displays the legal protections for federal employees during shutdowns and signals increased judicial scrutiny of politically driven workforce reductions.
The Trump administration is expected to challenge the injunction, extending the legal and political dispute over federal employment cuts amid the funding impasse.