Judge extends ban on Trump firing federal workers during government shutdown
A traffic light glows red in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on October 14, 2025.
Celal Güneş/ | Anatolia | Getty Images
A federal judge on Tuesday extended a temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s plans to lay off thousands of federal employees during the government shutdown.
The so-called preliminary injunction prohibits the administration from issuing notices of reduction-in-force, or RIF, notices until the government reopens, Judge Susan Illston said at the hearing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Illston had filed a brief firing freeze, known as a temporary restraining order, or TRO, on Oct. 15.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the labor union plaintiffs in the case, praised the judge’s latest decision.
“Today’s decision is another victory for federal workers and our continued efforts to protect their jobs from an administration determined to illegally fire them,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. he said in a statement.
The American Federation of Government Employees, one of the other plaintiffs in the case, called decision “Big win for federal workers!”
Labor unions representing federal civilian employees filed a lawsuit on the eve of the shutdown to preemptively challenge the Trump administration’s plans to impose mass layoffs if federal funding were cut.
President Donald Trump said the shutdown, now the second-longest ever, gave his administration the “opportunity” to cut what he described as “Democrat Agencies.”
Days after the shutdown began, plaintiffs expanded his cases It will include dozens of additional federal agencies and their leaders.
The Trump administration said on Oct. 10 that it had issued nearly 4,000 RIFs.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought, author of the right-wing government policy guide known as Project 2025, said the following week that the total number of RIFs “will probably be north of 10,000.”
Vought’s remarks came on the same day Illston granted itself a TRO, calling its layoff plans amid the shutdown “unprecedented in the history of our country.”
Seeking comment on Tuesday’s injunction, the White House referred CNBC to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, which did not immediately respond.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of the Democracy Forward law group, which represented AFSCME in the case, said Illston’s decision is “a major blow to the Trump-Vance administration’s unlawful attempt to turn the Project 2025 playbook into reality by targeting our nation’s career public servants who work for all Americans.”
“Our team is honored to represent civil servants fighting against President Trump’s dangerous agenda and to win this important injunction that will help stop federal employees from continuing to be targeted and harassed by this administration during the shutdown,” Perryman said in a statement. he said.
