A United States federal judge on Thursday ruled that the President Donald Trump’s administration can continue its mass firings of federal employees for now, rejecting a bid by a group of labour unions to halt Trump’s dramatic downsizing of the roughly 2.3 million-strong federal workforce.
US District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington DC said Trump’s onslaught of executive actions in his first month in office have caused disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society.
He, however, said he likely lacks the power to decide whether the firing of tens of thousands of government workers is lawful.
According to him, the unions are instead likely required to file complaints with the Federal Labour Relations Authority, which hears disputes between federal agencies and unions that represent their workers.
Recall that Trump last week fired the Democratic chair of the three-member panel, who has filed a lawsuit seeking to be reinstated.
“Federal district judges are duty-bound to decide legal issues based on even-handed application of law and precedent — no matter the identity of the litigants or, regrettably at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people,” the judge said.
Cooper declined to block the mass firings while the litigation plays out, a win for the Trump administration as it seeks to purge the federal workforce and slash what it deems wasteful and fraudulent government spending.
The White House and the US Department of Justice have not yet commented on the development.
President of the National Treasury Employees Union, Doreen Greenwald, called the decision a temporary setback, adding that the union would continue pursuing its legal challenge.