A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from laying off hundreds of State Department employees, after labor groups said the terminations would violate a legislative package Congress passed to reopen the federal government last month.
Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California found the labor groups would likely win in arguing that the termination efforts violate the law, which Congress passed last month to end the longest partial government shutdown in history.
The law barred the government from using funds to “initiate, carry out, implement, or otherwise notice a reduction in force” through Jan. 30. Democrats who crossed the party line to vote for the bill touted that provision.
