A federal appellate court said Monday it will not come to President Trump’s rescue and block a lower court order forcing him to rehire thousands of probationary workers who were fired.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to get involved, saying it would leave the status quo in place while the firings are argued more fully.
“Given that the district court found that the employees were wrongfully terminated and ordered an immediate return to the status quo ante, an administrative stay of the district court’s order would not preserve the status quo,” the court said in an unsigned order.
One of the three judges dissented. Judge Bridget S. Bade, a Trump appointee, said the employees have already been ousted and the lower court order actually changes the status quo. Putting that ruling on hold would actually be maintaining things as they were, Judge Bade said.
At issue are thousands of probationary employees the Trump administration has let go, citing subpar work performance.
Labor unions and other Trump opponents argue the firings came at the order of the Office of Personnel Management, which issued a memo in late January prodding agencies to take action.
OPM says its memo wasn’t actually an order to commence firings, but rather an invitation to federal departments to look through their lists of probationary employees and see who should be retained.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup didn’t believe OPM and issued a ruling last week ordering six departments to rehire the employees they had fired.
The Department of Justice rushed to the 9th Circuit for a stay, or short delay, while other legal issues are settled.
With the appeals court refusing the stay, the Trump administration could now try to get a different ruling from the Supreme Court.
