Appeals Court Upholds Order Reinstating Thousands of Federal Workers

The Trump administration’s attempt to appeal a district judge’s order to reinstate nearly 25,000 probationary workers to their jobs across 18 federal agencies was struck down on March 21. Judge Allison Rushing of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, chose not to pause the order because the ruling judge, U.S. District Judge James Bredar, was expected to decide next whether to extend his ruling further in a lawsuit brought forward by the attorneys general of 19 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C. Bredar granted a temporary restraining order on March 13. He ruled that the mass firings did not follow the required procedures for laying off federal workers, specifically that agencies are required to provide state and local governments with 60 days’ notice of the layoffs....