Second Judge Dismisses Trump Lawsuit to Nullify Union Contracts

The Trump administration may not proceed with efforts to nullify collective bargaining agreements for Defense Department workers in Texas after a federal judge dismissed its case.

The government doesn’t have standing to pursue a declaration from the court blessing its cancellation of contracts with the American Federation of Government Employees, Judge Alan Albright of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas ruled Wednesday.

Albright’s ruling is another loss for the Trump administration in its war against federal-sector unions. It follows an earlier decision from a Kentucky federal judge who threw out a similar government lawsuit.

That judge held the government filed its complaint too soon to properly litigate the legality of President Donald Trump‘s March executive order stripping collective bargaining rights for government workers in over 40 agencies and subagencies.

Other judges, one in California and another in DC, blocked the administration’s efforts to cancel labor contracts in lawsuits brought by unions. They found the government likely violated federal law, but the District of Columbia and Ninth Circuit appeals courts stayed those injunctions.

During June 10 oral arguments over AFGE’s motion to dismiss, Albright said Trump’s move to issue the lawsuit the same day as the executive order was unusual. The government typically implements an order without judicial sign-off, stepping into court only if it gets challenged, he said.

The case is DOD v. Am. Fed’n of Gov’t Employees, W.D. Tex., No. 6:25-cv-00119, 7/23/25.