There's been plenty of lawsuits involving President Donald Trump's actions in the month he's been in office. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, delivered a victory for the president and his administration on Thursday. In response to the Trump administration looking to seriously decrease the government workforce, government employee unions brought a lawsuit, though they weren't met with the ruling they hoped for.
According to The Hill, Judge Cooper ruled that the unions must bring their challenge over the administration's actions before the the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA), as federal law mandates.
As the report also mentioned, citing Cooper's ruling:
“The first month of President Trump’s second administration has been defined by an onslaught of executive actions that have caused, some say by design, disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society,” wrote Cooper, an appointee of former President Obama.
“Affected citizens and their advocates have challenged many of these actions on an emergency basis in this Court and others across the country,” he continued. “Certain of the President’s actions have been temporarily halted; others have been permitted to proceed, at least for the time being. These mixed results should surprise no one.”
The unions’ lawsuit challenged mass terminations of probationary employees, the administration’s plans for additional mass layoffs, known as a reduction in force (RIF), and its offer for most federal employees to accept a buyout.
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The case at hand was brought by the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), the National Federation of Federal Employees, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers and United Auto Workers.
The unions argued that the administration’s plans violates the separation of powers and regulations for how the federal government can carry out RIFs.
Cooper took no position on those issues, instead ruling that the unions brought their challenge in the wrong forum.
“The Court acknowledges that district court review of these sweeping executive actions may be more expedient. But NTEU provides no reason why it could not seek relief from the FLRA on behalf of a class of plaintiffs and admits that it would ask other agencies to follow an administrative judge’s ruling in its favor,” Cooper wrote.
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Elon Musk has already reacted to the news of Cooper's ruling on X. "Shifting people from low to negative productivity jobs in the government sector to high productivity roles in the commercial sector will greatly improve the average standard of living," he posted in a quoted repost of a user sharing coverage from Reuters.
Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been working to get to the bottom of government waste and fraud.
Shifting people from low to negative productivity jobs in the government sector to high productivity roles in the commercial sector will greatly improve the average standard of living https://t.co/0OxMmzhrvF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 20, 2025
The plan for layoffs comes as the Trump administration offered a buyout program, which ended two weeks ago, on February 6. Federal workers who didn't want to return to working from an office, five years after COVID, were given a "generous payout of eight months," as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared. According to reporting from NewsNation last week, about 77,000 workers accepted the buyout.
Judge Cooper's decision comes after Axios lamented the plight of federal workers and their fears about layoffs just the day before, as Matt covered earlier on Thursday.
Stephen Miller, who has worked at the White House for both of Trump's terms and currently serves as the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, also had a memorable exchange with CNN this week about the layoffs.
Stephen Miller has to whip out the crayons to explain how the federal government and presidential advisers work.
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 18, 2025
"I understand that even a temporary interruption in federal employment is a great crisis and catastrophe for you and CNN." pic.twitter.com/lVudki9XHe
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