Trump’s Shutdown Layoffs Paused Again by California Judge (1)

The Trump administration’s attempt to fire hundreds of federal workers is a violation of the shutdown-ending legislation passed by Congress last month, a San Francisco federal judge said Wednesday.

Judge Susan Illston issued a preliminary injunction Wednesday reversing layoffs affecting at least 500 employees at the Department of Education, General Services Administration, Small Business Administration, State Department, and the Department of Defense.

The injunction requires the government to restore employees fired in mass layoffs between Oct. 1 and Nov. 12 when the government was shutdown. But Illston’s order included a five-day stay as to reinstatement to allow the government to decide whether to appeal the order.

Illston earlier this month blocked planned layoffs at the State Department, saying the firings appeared to violate a November spending deal that reopened the federal government. That legislation included provisions that prohibited reductions in force through January.

“The chaotic nature of these RIFs has been continuing and has affected employees of the government in many ways, including loss of potential alternative jobs, loss of health care,” Illston said at the Wednesday hearing.

“The situations that have brought this matter to court are truly extreme,” she said.

Federal unions sued the Trump administration in September in the US District Court for the Northern District of California over firings that occurred during the most recent government shutdown. Illston froze those layoffs, finding they appeared to be “for the purpose of political retribution.”

The unions now have accused the administration of narrowly interpreting legislative language to continue termination notices that were started before the 43-day government shutdown.

Altshuler Berzon LLP and Democracy Forward Foundation represent the unions.

The case is AFGE v. OMB, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-08302, order 12/17/25.