Judge Probes Court Power to Halt Trump’s Mass Layoff Directive

A federal judge on Tuesday questioned whether he had the authority to pause President Donald Trump‘s directive for agencies to begin terminating civil servants, pressing federal worker unions on why they didn’t challenge firings at independent administrative panels.

Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the US District Court for the District of Columbia in a Tuesday hearing pointed to the Merit Systems Protection Board, which mediates disagreements between agencies and their employees, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which enforces labor laws for the federal workforce, as options.

Allie Giles, who argued for the unions, said the panels don’t have ...