Trump order to fire probationary employees halted

Donald Trump is facing legal challenge after legal challenge over his efforts to downsize the government.

His effort to have probationary workers dismissed is the latest fight, one in which a judge dealt him a critical blow.

Fire Them All

One of the first orders given by Trump was to dismiss the probationary employees from government agencies.

Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, confirmed that the firings would be challenged immediately.

Kelley stated, “Employees were given no notice, no due process, and no opportunity to defend themselves in a blatant violation of the principles of fairness and merit that are supposed to govern federal employment.”

When the order was issued, there were more than 200,000 federal workers considered to be in their probationary period.

Judge Blocks Move

Unfortunately, for Trump, the case came before U.S. District Judge William Alsup, a Clinton-appointed judge, so we all know how this goes.

Alsup sided with the plaintiffs, blocking the move to remove these employees from the government roster. Alfonso Little, the executive vice president of a local chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, took a victory lap.

Little stated, "The judge made a very, very good determination in what was going on with the issues with the probationary employees who were working at different agencies. I just hope those people who were laid off... I hope they get their jobs back."

The Trump administration will challenge the ruling, likely with the case winding up before the Supreme Court before we have a final decision.

Trump Fuming

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had the pleasure of voicing Trump’s outrage to the media.

Leavitt stated, “A single judge is attempting to unconstitutionally seize the power of hiring and firing from the Executive Branch.

“The President has the authority to exercise the power of the entire executive branch – singular district court judges cannot abuse the power of the entire judiciary to thwart the President’s agenda. If a federal district court judge would like executive powers, they can try and run for President themselves.”

I will write the same thing here that I just told my friends… calm down because this is how the process is played out. The order gets challenged in the lower courts, then goes to the appellate court, then the state or federal Supreme Court. We may not like it, but that is how it always plays out.