Fourth Circuit Questions States’ Power to Dispute Trump Cuts (1)

A Richmond, Va.-based federal appeals court Tuesday questioned whether states have standing to challenge the federal government’s firing of nearly 25,000 employees new to their roles.

A three-judge panel at the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit asked the states to list “concrete” ways the Trump administration’s dismissals of public workers harmed them, apart from the damage done to dismissed employees. Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Allison Jones Rushing repeatedly questioned whether the government’s failure to notify the states ahead of the terminations gave them the power to sue to reverse them.

Tuesday’s hearing was the latest ...