Judge: Trump Must Reinstate Fired Federal Workers

By Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, The Daily Signal | March 13, 2025

The Trump administration must reinstate some fired probationary government employees, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Six agencies must give jobs back to thousands of recently-hired employees whom President Donald Trump fired in an effort to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse” from the federal government by cutting the federal workforce.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said employees at the Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, and Treasury departments must get their jobs back.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt condemned the ruling.

“A single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the Executive Branch,” she said in a statement. “The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch – singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the President’s agenda. 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.”

Alsup had criticized the government for withdrawing a memo from acting Office of Personnel Management Director Charles Ezell because the move prevented him from having to testify.

“Come on, that’s a sham. Go ahead. It upsets me, I want you to know that. I’ve been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years, and I know how do we get at the truth,” San Francisco-based Alsup said.

One day ago, Trump said he feels “very badly” for those who have lost their jobs, but he added that “many of them don’t work at all.” This week, the Education Department cut nearly half of its workforce.

“Many of them never showed up to work,” Trump said.

“When we cut, we want to cut, but we want to cut the people that aren’t working or … not doing a good job,” he said. “We’re keeping the best people.”

Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell is the White House Correspondent for "The Daily Signal."

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