States Lose Bid to Stop Trump Firing Probationary Workers (1)

States lacked standing to challenge President Donald Trump’s decision to fire nearly 25,000 government workers new to their roles, an appeals court ruled.

The US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on Monday returneda preliminary injunction to a lower court with orders to dismiss.

A three-judge panel said the Trump administration does not need to rehire employees who live and work in 19 states and Washington, DC, as a Maryland judge ordered in March.

The Supreme Court in April permitted the government to continue to fire probationary workers. The Fourth Circuit decision could create a roadblock for other blue states looking to get a court to block the Trump administration’s mass firings.

The plaintiffs—particularly Washington, DC and neighboring states—argued that Trump unlawfully pushed thousands of workers onto their social safety nets, threatening to destabilize their regional economies. But the Fourth Circuit panel, consisting of two Republican appointees and one Democratic appointee, ruled that blocking the administration’s plan would overstep the court’s authority.

“The relief requested here is wholly out of proportion to the injury alleged,” Judge James Harvie Wilkinson wrote for the Republican majority. “To hold that standing exists would upset, indeed revolutionize, the balance inherent in dual sovereignty.”

Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, appointed by former President Joe Biden, dissented.

“As explained above and in great detail by the district court, nowhere have the States asked to micromanage the Government,” she wrote. “They ask merely for what they are due—notice under the statutes and regulations.”

The case is Maryland v. USDA, 4th Cir., No. 25-1248, 9/8/25.