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The US Supreme Court has allowed Donald Trump’s administration to proceed with mass job cuts that could fundamentally reshape and downsize the federal government.
The top court on Tuesday blocked a lower court order that had frozen cuts in federal staff nationwide, while the case moves through the appeals process.
The justices did not weigh in on the legality of the plans that would stem from the president’s executive order, which in February mandated the reduction of the government workforce’s size and could result in thousands of lay-offs.
The ruling did not include a vote tally, as is usual for emergency appeals. But liberal justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in dissent.
Trump’s executive order said the plan was designed to “commence a critical transformation of the federal bureaucracy” by eliminating “waste, bloat and insularity”.
The order empowered the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or Doge, which was headed at the time by then-Trump ally Elon Musk, to co-ordinate workforce reductions and ensure compliance across federal agencies.
The executive order called on government agencies to develop plans for “large-scale reductions in force”.
San Francisco-based US district judge Susan Illston blocked the lay-offs in May, finding Trump had exceeded his authority by ordering the restructuring without the authorisation of Congress. A group of unions, non-governmental organisations and local governments challenged the president’s order.
Illston wrote: “As history demonstrates, the president may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorised by Congress.”
The Supreme Court’s move will pave the way for dismissals across several government agencies, though a key target will be the Department of State. The changes there are likely to affect hundreds of foreign service officers, the department’s elite corps.
An open letter by more than 130 retired US ambassadors and other former senior US officials, published last week, warned secretary of state Marco Rubio against the cuts.
“At a time when the United States faces unprecedented challenges from strategic competitors, ongoing conflicts and emerging security threats, secretary Rubio’s decision to gut the state department’s institutional knowledge and operational capacity is reckless,” the letter said.
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