Judge Retains Block on RFK Jr.’s Worker Firings, Reorganization

A federal judge refused Friday to remove an order that halted US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from carrying out mass firings and restructuring across health agencies.

The US District Court for the District of Rhode Island disagreed with the Justice Department’s request to lift the order due to pending stays in two other cases that challenge with government’s reduction-in-force. Those cases are McMahon v. New York, regarding layoffs at the Department of Education, and Trump v. AFGE, regarding President Donald Trump’s reorganization of the federal government.

The government argued the stays in those two cases showed it was likely to prevail against a reduction-in-force challenge and made clear that preliminary injunctions against executive authority can’t hold up. The DOJ previously requested the court to revise the order to clarify the scope of the injunction.

“Defendants misguidedly argue that the Supreme Court’s recent grants of stays pending appeals” in those cases mean that the court should immediately reverse its July 1 decision granting plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction, Judge Melissa R. DuBose for the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island said in the order.

“This Court reminds Defendants that the preliminary injunction sought and issued in this case did not involve consideration of the lawfulness vel non of any executive orders or OMB memoranda,” the judge wrote.

DuBose rejected the government’s request to stay pending the appeal.

Kennedy in April announced sweeping cuts and restructuring of the offices and agencies within the US Department of Health and Human Services, with a reduction in force of about 10,000 employees.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia sued the department in May, alleging Kennedy’s cuts violate the Administrative Procedure Act because they’re arbitrary, capricious, and unsupported by the evidence.

DuBose in early July issued a preliminary injunction to halt the reorganization.

The pause applied to terminated employees in four different divisions of the HHS: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Center for Tobacco Products within the Food and Drug Administration; the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families and employees of regional offices who work on Head Start matters; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

The case is New York v. Kennedy, D.R.I., No. 25-cv-196, order 7/18/25.