Rogue Judge Issues Highly Questionable ‘Permanent’ Order Against Trump
A federal judge in California has stepped in to block President Donald Trump’s attempt to rein in the bloated federal bureaucracy — a move conservatives say shows how deeply entrenched the unelected administrative state has become.
Judge Susan Illston of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California — a Clinton appointee — issued a permanent injunction Tuesday preventing President Trump from dismissing thousands of federal employees as part of a planned government-wide Reduction in Force (RIF).
The ruling effectively halts a key component of the President’s shutdown strategy aimed at cutting waste, trimming inefficiency, and holding Washington’s bureaucracy accountable.
“Today’s ruling is another victory for federal workers and our ongoing efforts to protect their jobs from an administration hellbent on illegally firing them,” said Lee Saunders, President of the federal workers’ union AFSCME, celebrating the decision.
The injunction follows comments by Office of Management and Budget Director Russel Vought, who said the administration planned to terminate up to 10,000 federal workers to streamline government operations during the shutdown. Roughly 4,000 had already received RIF notices when several public-sector unions sued to stop the cuts.
Even some moderate Republicans, such as Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), joined Democrats in criticizing the move. “Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public,” Collins said on Oct. 10, according to Zero Hedge.
Democrats, meanwhile, accused President Trump of acting like a “king” — a familiar talking point that Judge Illston appeared to echo from the bench.
During last week’s hearing, Illston claimed the administration’s RIF process was “politically motivated” and “poorly planned,” citing an Office of Management and Budget memo referencing Democrat-run agencies and a social media post by the President. In that post, Trump wrote that he was meeting with Vought “to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut.”
“The politics that infuses what’s going on is being trumpeted out loud in this case,” Illston said, arguing that the administration’s actions violated federal RIF laws.
The Justice Department countered that the unions’ claims of “irreparable harm” were exaggerated, noting that any employees affected could appeal through established legal channels. “We’re still dealing with classically reparable harms … loss of employment, loss of benefits, loss of wages — those are the sorts of things that a body like the [Merit Systems Protection Board] can remedy,” said DOJ attorney Elizabeth Hedges.
Critics of the ruling say it’s another example of judicial overreach by liberal judges protecting the deep state, even at the expense of efficiency, accountability, and fiscal restraint. President Trump has made clear he intends to continue pushing for reforms to reduce government bloat and return power to the people, not unelected bureaucrats.