RIFs, Funding Clawbacks, Personnel

Reduction EO

Nov. 24 - Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. (D.R.I.) on Friday vacated the Trump administration’s Executive Order 14238, “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” and permanently enjoined its implementation. Judge McConnell held that the administration’s “actions in implementing the Reduction EO violate the APA, the Take Care Clause, and the Separation of Powers doctrine.” (Memorandum and order.)

Shutdowns

Feb. 19 - Funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on Saturday after Democrats withheld support for a stopgap spending bill that did not include their proposals for immigration reform. (WaPo.) Justice Department lawyers said in a Saturday court filing that “there is no lawful basis” for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to continue enjoining a DHS policy requiring lawmakers to give advance notice before visiting ICE facilities now that the restricted funds have lapsed. (Notice.)
Nov. 14 - The U.S. government withdrew its Nov. 7 stay application to the Supreme Court in Rollins v. Rhode Island State Council of Churches on the ground that the underlying dispute is moot since the government shutdown has ended. (Letter.) Steve Vladeck, reflecting on an earlier aspect of the SNAP case, noted that “this appears to be the second time in seven months that the full Court has taken a dispute away from the relevant circuit justice.” (One First.)
Nov. 13 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday that SNAP benefits would be restored within 24 hours of the government re-opening. (Politico.)
Nov. 12 - The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended an administrative stay of two district court orders requiring the federal government to distribute November food benefits, now set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on November 13. (Order.)
Nov. 10 - Judge Christopher Cooper (D.D.C.) held that the Department of Education violated the First Amendment by overriding furloughed employees’ automated out-of-office emails with a partisan message blaming Democrats for the shutdown and ordered permanent injunctive relief. (Memorandum Opinion.) (NYT.)
Nov. 10 - Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday granted an administrative stay of two orders issued by a Rhode Island district court that would have required the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to distribute funding for November food benefits by the end of the day. (Order.) (Application.) (Politico.) Steve Vladeck analyzed Justice Jackson’s order. (One First.)
Nov. 7 - Judge John J. McConnell (D.R.I) on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order requiring the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to make full payments of November SNAP benefits “immediately.” (Memorandum and Order.) (NYT.) The government is appealing to the First Circuit. (Notice of Appeal.) Judge McConnell had previously ordered the Trump administration to use emergency funds to keep paying these benefits. (Order.) In response, USDA announced it would make partial payment to those who receive SNAP benefits during the government shutdown.
Nov. 5 - Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Tuesday stated that the administration may “close certain parts of the airspace” due to a shortage of air traffic controllers if the shutdown persists. (NYT.)
Nov. 5 - White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday clarified that the administration is “fully complying” with a court order to pay federal food assistance amid the shutdown after President Trump stated that benefits “will be given only when the Radical Left Democrats open up the government.” (WSJ.) (Truth Social.)
Nov. 4 - The Department of Agriculture said in court filings on Monday that it plans to make partial payments to those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits during the government shutdown. (NYT.)
Oct. 31 - District court judges in Massachusetts and Rhode Island on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Agriculture to use emergency funds to keep paying food assistance benefits amid the shutdown. (D. Mass. Memorandum and Order.) (D.R.I. Order.) (WSJ.)
Oct. 30 - The White House Office of Management and Budget is using funds from military housing, research, and procurement accounts to cover the roughly $5.3 billion needed for military payroll by Friday. (Axios.)
Oct. 29 - Judge Susan Y. Illston (N.D.Cal.) on Tuesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from engaging in reductions in force (RIF) and pausing RIF notices issued during the government shutdown. (Order.) (Politico.)
Oct 27 - The New York Times identified Timothy Mellon as the anonymous private donor who gave $130 million to help pay military salaries during the shutdown, raising legal questions under the Antideficiency Act. (NYT.)
Oct. 22 - The Trump administration is reprogramming funds from the Big Beautiful Bill to pay immigration agents and other federal law enforcement officials during the government shutdown. (NYT.)
Oct. 20 - Judge Susan Illston (N.D. Cal.) on Friday ordered the Trump administration to disclose by Monday any “imminent” reductions-in-force (RIFs) the government is planning. (Order.) (NYT.) The judge issued a temporary restraining order last week enjoining the administration from issuing RIFs “during or because of the federal government shutdown.”
Oct. 16 - Judge Susan Illston (N.D. Cal.) granted plaintiffs’ motion for a temporary retraining order blocking the Trump administration from issuing any new reductions-in-force (RIFs) and taking further action on any RIFs already issued “during or because of” the federal government shutdown. (Order.) (WSJ.)
Oct. 16 - President Trump signed a memorandum on Wednesday authorizing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to repurpose federal funds to pay military personnel during the government shutdown. (Memorandum.) (NYT.)
Oct. 14 - More than 4,000 federal employees were laid off by the Trump administration on Friday in response to the government shutdown. (WSJ.)
Oct. 6 - The American Federation of Government Employees sued the Trump administration on Friday, alleging that the government violated plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights by inserting “partisan political speech” into the out-of-office email responses of furloughed Department of Education employees. (Complaint.) (NYT.)

Firing + Dismissals + Ousters

Feb. 18 - The Washington Post reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth forced Army Secretary Dan Driscoll to terminate a senior military advisor, writing that the ouster “mark[s] the Pentagon chief’s latest intervention into the service’s internal affairs.” (WaPo.)
Feb. 17 - Donald T. Kinsella was fired by the Trump administration less than five hours after being appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York by the district court. (WaPo.)
Feb. 17 - Gail Slater, assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, resigned on Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reports that her departure follows clashes with senior administration officials “who at times favored more lenient oversight of mergers.” (WSJ.)
Feb. 5 - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is expected to issue a final rule on Thursday that will make it easier for the White House to terminate high-ranking career employees tasked with implementing executive branch policies. Office of Personnel Management officials said the rule is intended to target “conscientious objectors” who interfere with President Trump’s agenda. (WSJ.)
Dec. 23 - The Trump administration ordered nearly 30 career diplomats serving as U.S. ambassadors to leave their posts by mid-January, a move that a spokesperson for the American Foreign Service Association said is without precedent. (NYT.)
Dec. 16 - Chief Judge James Boasberg (D.D.C) on Monday granted a motion allowing twelve former FBI agents to proceed pseudonymously in a suit challenging their terminations for kneeling at a protest in 2020. (Opinion and Order.)
Dec. 11 - Several outlets reported that a divided three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit appeared skeptical of the Justice Department’s effort to lift a preliminary injunction blocking the CIA from firing 19 intelligence officers previously assigned to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Two judges pressed whether the terminations were discretionary decisions under the National Security Act, as the government argued, or a reduction in force subject to agency procedures and review. (Law.com.) (Bloomberg Law.) (Politico.) (Audio of oral argument.)
Dec. 8 - The Supreme Court today heard oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter, a case involving the legality of President Trump’s removal of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter despite a statutory requirement that the president can remove commissioners only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” (NYT.)
Dec. 2 - Fourteen employees from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were returned to administrative leave after CNN reported that they had been reinstated. (CNN.) The employees were initially placed on leave in August after signing an open letter to Congress criticizing the Trump administration’s overhaul of FEMA. (NYT.)
Oct. 31 - The Trump administration fired about a dozen officials in Fannie Mae’s ethics and internal-investigations unit amid broader layoffs, days after ousting its chief ethics officer. (WSJ.)
Oct. 30 - The Justice Department placed two prosecutors on administrative leave after they described the Jan. 6 attack as a “riot” carried out by a “mob” in a court filing later withdrawn and replaced by new attorneys. (WaPo.)
Oct. 15 - According to the New York Times, a U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia “was forced to resign in August because he refused to sideline a high-ranking career prosecutor” who had questioned the evidentiary basis of an investigation into the FBI’s handling of classified Russia-related documents. (NYT.)
Oct. 9 - FBI Director Kash Patel dismissed two agents who worked with Special Counsel Jack Smith to investigate President Trump during the Biden administration. (NYT.)
Oct. 2 - The Trump administration on Wednesday fired several members of the National Council on the Humanities, an advisory group to the National Endowment for the Humanities. (NYT.)

Cook

Jan. 21 - The Supreme Court today heard oral arguments on President Trump’s effort to oust Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook. (NYT.)
Oct. 1 - The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the government’s application for a stay of a district court order barring President Trump from firing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board pending oral argument in January. The decision allows for Cook to remain in the role until the Court rules following oral arguments. (Order.) (NYT.)

Perlmutter

Nov. 28 - The Supreme Court on Wednesday deferred the government’s application—pending the Court’s decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook—for a stay of a D.C. Circuit decision that allowed Shira Perlmutter to remain in her role as Register of Copyrights. (Order.) (NYT.) See a previous Roundup for background.

Hiring/Recruitment

Oct. 16 - President Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday placing new restrictions on hiring across the federal government. (NYT.)