Judge temporarily blocks the Trump administration from firing federal workers during the government shutdown

SAN FRANCISCO AP President Donald Trump s administration for now must stop firing workers during the establishment shutdown a federal judge in San Francisco ordered on Wednesday U S District Judge Susan Illston issued the exigency order after federal agencies on Friday started issuing layoff notices aimed at reducing the size of the federal governing body The layoff notices are part of an effort by Trump s Republican administration to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the establishment shutdown continues Illston reported the administration was acting without thinking through its decisions It s very much ready fire aim on the majority of these programs and it has a human cost she commented It s a human cost that cannot be tolerated The American Federation of Authorities Employees and other federal labor unions had sought Illston for a temporary restraining order blocking the administration from issuing new layoff notices and implementing those that were already sent out The unions reported the firings were an abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress Illston s order came as the shutdown which started Oct entered its third week Democratic lawmakers are demanding that any deal to reopen the federal cabinet address their medical care demands Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted the shutdown may become the longest in history saying he won t negotiate with Democrats until they hit pause on those demands and reopen The Trump administration has been paying the military and pursuing its crackdown on immigration while slashing jobs in fitness and mentoring including in special schooling and after-school programs Trump stated programs favored by Democrats are being targeted and they re never going to come back in multiple cases In a court filing the administration mentioned it planned to fire more than employees across eight agencies The unions say the layoff notices are an illegal attempt at political pressure and retribution and are based on the false premise that a temporary funding lapse eliminates Congress authorization of agency programs The cabinet says the district court lacks jurisdiction to hear employment decisions made by federal agencies