Ninth Circuit Panel Probes Challenge to Trump Federal Union Ban

Jan. 13, 2026, 12:52 AM UTC

A federal appeals court questioned key elements of a challenge to President Donald Trump’s sweeping ban on federal unions in a hearing at which Trump-appointed judges pressed the administration on its stance.

Two conservatives on a three-judge panel pushed back on the administration’s assertion in a hearing Monday that a legal challenge should first be considered by an administrative labor panel. The panel, comprised of two Trump appointees and one Barack Obama appointee, must decide whether to continue a freeze on two Trump executive orders that prohibited collective bargaining at many agencies.

Courts have been preoccupied with whether a legal ...

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