The US Supreme Court on Tuesday paved the way for ambitious plan of President Donald Trump to shrink the federal government workforce, overruling lower-court injunctions that had temporarily restrained the initiative.
Concerns Over Trump-Backed Cuts and Mass Layoffs
The move has come despite alarms sounded that essential government functions might be disrupted and that hundreds of thousands of federal workers might lose their jobs.
In an unsigned opinion, the justices reversed several lower court freezes on the reductions, spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), according to the Associated Press.
Court Upholds Executive Orders, Jackson Dissents
The court made it clear that no specific staff reductions were being considered, only the executive order issued by Trump and a subsequent administration order directing agencies to implement reductions in force.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson alone dissented, condemning the majority for having a “demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture.”
Musk-Led DOGE Drove Initial Layoffs and Resignations
President Trump has been insisting time and again that voters have given him the mandate to transform the federal government and has left the assignment of the task to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, who headed DOGE until his recent exit.
Since the inception of the directive, tens of thousands of federal employees have either been fired, joined deferred resignation programmes, or been put on administrative leave.
Though the administration has not yet given an official count, at least 75,000 workers are said to have taken deferred resignation, and thousands of probationary workers have already been fired.
Lower Court Blocked Trump Order Over Legislative Concerns
In May, US District Judge Susan Illston held that the administration needed Congress’s permission to implement such deep reductions in the federal workforce. A three-member panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her decree in a 2–1 vote, advising that the cuts could compromise the country’s food safety system and veterans’ health.
After her decision, Illston directed several federal agencies to stop enforcing both the president’s February executive order and a later memorandum from DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management. Illston was a Clinton appointee to the bench.
Labour Unions Warn of Severe Ramifications
Labour unions and charities who sued the downsizing presented the Supreme Court with a number of examples of possible ramifications in case the plan is permitted to advance, including projected reductions in staff of 40 to 50 per cent in a number of crucial agencies.
Some of the agencies subject to the executive order are the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labour, the Interior, State, the Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.
The reductions also affect the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, the Social Security Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.