Supreme Court permits Trump to fire 16,000 probationary federal employees

The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the Trump administration has the green light to proceed with dismissing 16,000 probationary federal employees from six different agencies and departments. This decision overturns a prior ruling by a lower court that ordered the reinstatement of these workers while legal battles over the layoffs are ongoing.

In an unelaborated statement, the court declared that the nine labor unions and non-profit organizations that contested the terminations did not have the authority to do so. According to the court, the claims of harm put forward by these groups were not substantial enough to justify their involvement in the case.

Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated that they would have denied Trump’s request.

Earlier, a federal judge had mandated that the administration must rehire the employees from various departments including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, and the Department of Treasury.

The Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the judge’s order, arguing the plaintiffs lacked standing and had “hijacked the employment relationship between the federal government and its workforce.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.