A federal judge in California has granted a temporary restraining order requested by unions representing 4,000 federal workers fired during the government shutdown.
In the transcript of proceedings from the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California, Judge Susan Illston says she believes the plaintiffs in the case — unions representing federal workers fired during the shutdown — are likely to prove that what the administration has done is illegal.
“At least for the next 14 days, the administration will be unable to issue any new reduction in force notices at any agencies that we sued, and it will also be unable to implement the reduction in force notices that it has a;ready issued,” said Rushab Sangvhi.
Sangvhi is general counsel for the American Federation of Government Employees, one of the plaintiffs in the matter.
“When the government does something, right, it can’t be for arbitrary reasons, it can’t be based on some unlawful motive, it has to be a reasoned decision,” he said. “Just because for this short period of time, there’s a lapse in funding, Congress hasn’t appropriated money, that doesn’t mean those agencies don’t exist anymore or the components of those agencies that they’re trying to RIF don’t exist anymore.”
Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, which is home to tens of thousands of federal workers, told NBC News the Trump Administration’s action and threats are not working to end the shutdown.
“If he really wanted to put pressure on, he should say, as soon as we find the deal, there will be no more firings, there will be no more cancelation of projects,” he said. “That will put pressure on, but just threatening to do what he’s already doing, that really isn’t pressure.”
The court’s decision comes as the White House threatens more firings.