“I know want you to know that I’ve been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years,” U.S. District Judge William Alsup said. “And I know how we get at the truth, and you’re not helping me get to add to the truth. You’re giving me press releases—sham documents.”
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to rehire thousands of probationary government employees who were laid off and fired last month.
According to ABC News, U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered the Trump administration to reinstate all probationary employees who had been terminated from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, the Department of Interior, and the Department of Treasury.
In his decision, Alsup forbid the federal Office of Personnel Management from issuing any further guidance about whether employees can be terminated. Alsup also ordered discovery and the deposition of OPM senior advisor Noah Peters, who is affiliated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
During a Thursday hearing, Alsup reportedly “slammed” the Justice Department attorney representing the Trump administration, saying that the Office of Personnel Management’s refusal to make OPM Acting Director Charles Ezell available for cross-examination is an obvious “sham.”
“The government, I believe, has tried to frustrate the judge’s ability to get at the truth of what happened here, and then set forth declarations,” Alsup said. “That’s not the way it works in the U.S. District Court.”
Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing fired federal workers, said that the Office of Personnel Management should never have been permitted to direct the termination of federal employees in other agencies.
“There is a mountain of evidence before the court that OPM directed it,” Leonard said. “OPM’s actions were unlawful. The plaintiffs have standing, and there is a[n] irreparable harm that is occurring every minute, and it is snowballing.”
Later in the hearing, Alsup suggested that the Trump administration’s actions—and its refusal to cooperate with the federal judiciary—need correction.
“You will not bring the people in here to be cross-examined,” Alsup told the Justice Department. “You’re afraid to do so, because, you know, cross examination will reveal the truth.”
“This is the U.S. District Court,” he said. “I tend to doubt that you’re telling me the truth.”
Alsup said that, if the Trump administration wants to reduce the size of the federal workforce, it must follow established law in doing so.
“The words I give you today should not be taken as some kind of ‘wild and crazy judge in San Francisco has said that the administration cannot engage in a reduction in force,’” Alsup said.
“The reason that OPM wanted to put this ‘based on performance’ was, at least in my judgment, a gimmick to avoid their Reduction in Force Act because the law always allows you to fire somebody for performance,” Alsup said, noting that laid-off probationary employees aren’t even eligible for unemployment insurance.
Alsup also shared his belief that the Trump administration has knowingly submitted false declarations to the court, citing the example of a declaration issued by Ezell—a declaration that was abruptly withdrawn, with the OPM saying that Ezell would no longer be available for testimony.
“You withdrew his declaration rather than do that,” Alsup said. “Come on, that’s a sham. It upsets me.”
“I know want you to know that I’ve been practicing or serving in this court for over 50 years,” he said. “And I know how we get at the truth, and you’re not helping me get to add to the truth. You’re giving me press releases—sham documents.”
Meanwhile, in Maryland, another federal judge hearing a similar case signaled his own skepticism of the Trump administration’s firings.
“This case isn’t about whether or not the government can terminate people,” U.S. District Judge James Bredar said. “It’s about if they decide to terminate people, how they must do it.”
“Move fast and break things. Move fast, fine. Break things—if that involves breaking the law, then that becomes problematic,” he said.
Sources
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