First Circuit Preserves Agency Layoff Freeze as Appeal Dismissed

The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit kept its prohibition on layoffs at three smaller federal agencies intact as it approved the government’s bid to drop litigation on the issue.

The court on Wednesday granted the Trump administration’s request to dismiss its appeal, citing a lower court decision in the same challenge last week that said the administration exceeded its authority with staff cuts at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Minority Business Development Agency.

Twenty-one states sued the administration after it laid off nearly all of the workers ...