Unions Ask Favorite Court to Save Federal Jobs Again

A coalition of federal worker unions will ask San Francisco Federal Judge Susan Illston to block the Trump administration’s mass government layoffs from last week. It won’t be the first time Illston or her court hears this kind of case.

The US District Court for the Northern District of California, where Illston works, has become the venue of choice for federal unions challenging President Donald Trump’s firings this term. This builds on patterns from Trump’s last term, when suits against his executive orders piled up there. Think of Trump’s attempts to revoke funding for sanctuary cities, for one.

What makes this court so special? It’s got a particularly liberal pedigree. All but one of the district’s judges were appointed by Democratic presidents, and appeals go to the historically liberal-leaning US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Today, the American Federation of Government Employees is specifically suing over last Friday’s firing of some 4,100 federal workers — including at least 778 accidental firings — after Trump followed through on his threat to cut government jobs during the US shutdown. Illston, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, could rule on the union’s motion for a temporary restraining order at this hearing.

If past is prologue, the union’s chances of securing the judge’s support are good.

In February, AFGE convinced Northern District Judge William Alsup to block Trump from firing the government’s newest employees. In May, Illston issued a similar restraining order, saying the administration should have asked Congress before executing mass layoffs.

The union filed its third suit — the case currently in front of Illston — late last month after the Trump administration threatened more layoffs if the government shutdown. Illston’s the judge for this suit because of its similarities to the case she ruled on this spring.

The case is AFGE v. OMB, N.D. Cal., No. 25-cv-08302.

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