A couple of days ago, on July 8, the Supreme Court issued its ruling in Trump v. American Federation of Government Employees. There was a two-paragraph unsigned decision by eight of the nine justices, there was a short concurring opinion by Justice Sotomayor explaining why she went along with the conservatives on this one. (Justice Kagan, who also went along with the conservatives but didn’t say anything on her own, presumably agreed with Justice Sotomayor.) And there was a lengthy and strong dissent by Justice Jackson.
The case involved Trump Executive Order 14210, dated February 11. You can read it here—and it might be a good idea to take a gander, because you will see that it orders the executive agencies to develop some plans, and to do so in accordance with applicable law.
Now Team Trump has some pretty screwy notions about what applicable law requires and doesn’t require. And the plans to be developed—essentially, schemes for a massive reduction in the federal workforce—would call for very unwise and very probably illegal actions to be taken.
Still, they were just plans. And the question before the Court was whether Trump was likely to win in his claim that the Constitution doesn’t prevent him from making plans—plans that he claims will be in accord with applicable law.
As I said, eight justices—two liberals, three wingnuts, and the three judges in what passes these days for the middle—all agreed that “The District Court enjoined further implementation or approval of the plans based on its view about the illegality of the Executive Order …, not on any assessment of the plans themselves. Those plans are not before this Court.”
In the Wake of the Decision
A number of lawsuits involving specific federal agencies remain ongoing. In a couple of cases, Trump’s plans have been blocked, and the validity of those injunctions was not before the Supreme Court this week. Much additional legal activity will surely follow.
Meanwhile, a plethora of catastrophizing headlines scream that the Supreme Court has given Trump the green light to fire federal workers.
True—but misleadingly incomplete. What they have actually done is to give Trump the green light to try to institute a massive reduction in force, and to do it as fast as they can, before litigation catches up with them. That said, there is also a green light for courts to enjoin the hell out of RIFs in specific agencies, if the RIFs don’t comply with a whole lot of legal rules, including the requirement that Congress be consulted on massive changes to the federal workforce.
The labor lawyers are going to have a good year.
Facing MAGA 