CNN
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The Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court on Monday to ask the justices to reverse a lower court order that has blocked mass firings and major reorganizations at federal agencies, a case that could have enormous implications for the president’s power to reshape the federal government.
The latest emergency appeal involving President Donald Trump’s second term to reach the Supreme Court followed an order last week from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that kept on hold Trump’s plans for the sweeping layoffs – known as reductions in force, or RIFs.
“Controlling the personnel of federal agencies lies at the heartland” of the president’s authority, US Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court in the appeal. “The Constitution does not erect a presumption against presidential control of agency staffing, and the president does not need special permission from Congress to exercise” his core constitutional powers.
The lawsuit was filed by more than a dozen unions, non-profits and local governments, which are billing it as the largest legal challenge to the Trump administration’s effort to downsize the federal workforce. A senior administration official told CNN last month that it is watching the case closely because of its significance for allowing Trump to reduce the size of and restructure the federal government.
Trump had asked the Supreme Court to wade into the case once before, but the Department of Justice withdrew the appeal days later when a federal district court issued a more fulsome order blocking Trump from proceeding.
In its 2-1 opinion denying Trump’s request to pause that district court order, the 9th Circuit panel said the Trump executive order at issue “far exceeds the president’s supervisory powers under the Constitution.”
The majority concluded that the challengers were likely to succeed on the merits of their arguments that the mass layoffs were unlawful.
The case stems from an executive order, which Trump signed in mid-February, that kicked off the process of the federal employees’ mass culling. Agencies, which are working with the Department of Government Efficiency to carry out the mandate, were required to file reorganization plans with the administration earlier this year. But the unions have complained that the details of those plans have not been shared.
Already, at least 121,000 federal workers have been laid off or targeted for layoffs since Trump took office, according to a CNN analysis. The figure doesn’t include those placed on administrative leave or those who took voluntary buyouts.
The order covers major reductions at more than a dozen agencies, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, Labor, Treasury, State, Health and Human Services, Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency.
CNN’s Tierney Sneed and Paula Reid contributed to this report.
