On October 14, 2025, the traffic light in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC turns red.
Celal Gunes/ | Anadolu | Getty Images
A federal judge on Tuesday extended a temporary order blocking the Trump administration’s plan to lay off thousands of federal workers during the government shutdown.
Judge Susan Illston said during a hearing in U.S. District Court in San Francisco that the order, called a “preliminary injunction,” prohibits the administration from issuing a reduction in force (RIF) notice until the government reopens.
Illston had imposed a short-term layoff freeze, known as a temporary restraining order (TRO), on October 15.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the union plaintiffs in the case, praised the judge’s latest order.
“Today’s ruling is another victory for federal employees and our continued efforts to protect their jobs from a government bent on wrongful termination,” AFSCME President Lee Sanders said in a statement.
The American Federation of Public Employees, another plaintiff in the case, called the ruling “a huge victory for federal employees!”
Unions representing federal employees filed the lawsuit on the eve of the federal government shutdown to preemptively challenge the Trump administration’s stated plans to carry out mass layoffs if federal funding is cut off.
President Donald Trump said the second-longest government shutdown in history is giving his administration an “opportunity” to cut what he calls “Democratic institutions.”
Days after the shutdown began, the plaintiffs expanded their lawsuit to include dozens more federal agencies and their leaders.
The Trump administration announced on October 10 that it had issued approximately 4,000 RIFs.
White House Budget Director Russell Vought, author of the right-wing government policy guidebook known as “Project 2025,” said the following week that the total number of RIFs “will likely end up exceeding 10,000.”
Vought’s remarks came on the same day that Illston granted her a TRO, calling the layoff plan during the government shutdown “unprecedented in our nation’s history.”
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