Another federal judge has ruled against President Donald Trump’s efforts to trim the fat in Washington, DC.
US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson reportedly paused Trump’s plans to fire almost 1,500 workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), ABC News reported.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered an immediate halt to the planned firings of nearly 1,500 employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and is ordering the Trump administration to hand over communications and make top officials available for testimony to determine whether they deliberately violated one of her court orders.
District Judge Amy Berman Jackson told attorneys for the government she was “deeply concerned” about the apparently rushed efforts to implement a Reduction In Force, or RIF, of approximately 1483 employees at the CFPB which was set to take effect at 6 pm tonight.
In anticipation of today's hearing, CFPB's chief legal officer Mark Paoletta says he's determined, after a "particularized assessment," that the agency, which once had about 1700 employees, should be "right-size[d]" at 200.
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During a Friday hearing, Jackson stopped the agency from revoking employees’ computer access until she holds a hearing closer to the end of the month, according to a report from The Hill. “We’re not going to disburse 1,483 people into the universe and have them be unable to communicate with the agency anymore until we have determined whether that is lawful or not,” she said.
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The National Treasury Employees Union and other groups warned in a filing Thursday that the mass firings could violate Jackson’s order blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to wind down the agency.
Deepak Gupta, the groups’ attorney, accused the agency of trying to keep the layoffs under wraps so the plaintiffs “would not be able to come to the court in an orderly fashion” before employees’ computer access is shut off Friday.
An appeals court partially paused Jackson’s order, but it still prevents the bureau from conducting a reduction in force without a “particularized assessment” that the laid off employees are unnecessary to carry out the agency’s statutory duties.
The White House argued that it followed the appropriate procedures and properly assessed the CFPB’s business units. However, the union claimed it was impossible to thoroughly examine these units.
Jackson’s ruling is one of several in response to a slew of lawsuits Democrats have filed against the Trump administration over its plans to cut down on federal staff.
At some point, there will be a reckoning with all these courts seeking to stymie the Trump administration's agenda. While the judicial branch is empowered to place certain checks on the executive branch, it is clear that the courts have become little more than an anti-Trump operation aimed at preventing the president from enacting his policies.
There are already discussions among Republicans about reining in judicial authority, especially as judges continue placing nationwide injunctions on the administration's actions.
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