In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper said that the claim should be heard by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which has jurisdiction over most federal labor union-related disputes.
A federal judge has rejected a labor union-led lawsuit’s bid to prevent the Trump administration from laying off thousands of government employees.
According to NBC News, U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper said that he was sympathetic to the claims raised by the National Treasury Employees Union and its four co-plaintiffs, all of which are also labor unions. Nonetheless, Cooper refused to issue a restraining order against the Trump administration.
“NTEU fails to establish that it is likely to succeed on the merits because this Court likely lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the claims it asserts,” Cooper wrote. “The Court will therefore deny the unions’ motion for a temporary restraining order and, for the same reasons, deny their request for a preliminary injunction.”
The labor unions had been trying to prevent the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order directing “large-scale reductions” across the federal workforce.
In his ruling, Cooper said that the claim should be heard by the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which has jurisdiction over most federal labor union-related disputes.
Doreen Greenwald, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said that Cooper’s decision represents but a “temporary setback.”
“The lawsuit we filed with our labor union partners will be heard and federal employees will get their day in court to challenge the unlawful mass firings and other attacks on their jobs, their agencies, and their service to the country,” Greenwald said. “Already too many federal employees and their families have been devastated by these indiscriminate layoffs, and soon their local economies will feel that pain, too.”
NBC News notes that Cooper’s 16-page ruling opened with an acknowledgment of the plaintiffs’ concerns.
“The first month of President Trump’s second administration has been defined by an onslaught of executive actions that have caused, some say be design, disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society,” Cooper wrote. “Affected citizens and their advocates have challenged many of these actions on an emergency basis in this Court and others across the country.”
Cooper indicated that, as a federal district judge, he had no choice but to reject the unions’ request and refer the lawsuit to the proper venue.
“Certain of the President’s actions have been temporarily halted; others have been permitted to proceed, at least for the time being,” Cooper said. “These results should surprise no one. 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.”
Sources
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