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A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to rehire tens of thousands of government employees sacked in recent weeks, in one of the biggest legal setbacks to Elon Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting drive.
The order, made by San Francisco district judge William Alsup, demanded the immediate reinstatement of probationary employees across agencies including the US Treasury and defence and energy departments, after representatives of government workers argued they had been unlawfully fired.
Alsup found that the Office of Personnel Management, a government human resources agency that has been one of the primary vehicles used by Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), had no legal authority to order such dismissals.
At a hearing on Thursday, Alsup also criticised the US government for failing to send the OPM’s acting director or any other official to answer questions about the recent lay-offs, despite an explicit request by the court, and expressed doubt about the Trump administration’s claim that those fired had been underperforming in their roles.
“The law is clear that OPM has no authority to order the federal agencies to fire their employees,” said Danielle Leonard, a lawyer at Altshuler Berzon, representing the plaintiffs. “Today’s ruling is an important first step in holding this administration accountable.”
Alsup’s order is the latest in a series of blows to Doge’s cost-cutting crusade. Earlier this month, the Supreme Court upheld an order forcing the government to pay $2bn worth of foreign aid contracts that the Trump administration had attempted to cancel, while judges in lower courts have prevented Musk’s emissaries from accessing some sensitive information.
The US government has also moved to clarify a directive issued soon after Trump’s inauguration regarding probationary employees, emphasising that it is up to individual agencies to make personnel decisions. Trump himself last week urged Musk to use a “scalpel” rather than a “hatchet” when it came to identifying savings, after the scale and breadth of cuts and lay-offs prompted protest even from Republican lawmakers.
In a statement regarding Alsup’s order, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused the judge of “attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the executive branch”.
She added: “If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for president themselves. The Trump administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order.”
