A federal court in Maryland this week issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from firing probationary employees at 16 federal departments and agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, FDIC and Treasury Department.
The order by District Judge James Bredar came in a lawsuit brought against the administration by Maryland and several other states, who argue the firings were illegal. It directs the administration to reinstate all affected probationary employees by March 17, although the order is currently set to expire on March 27.
The Trump administration has cut staff across multiple agencies as part of a campaign to reduce the size of government. The nature of the cuts has prompted several lawsuits by states and federal employee unions. Also this week, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in San Francisco ruled that probationary workers should be reinstated at several departments, including the Treasury, Reuters news services reported.
The Trump administration has made an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court asking justices to halt or restrain lower court rulings blocking implementation of key parts of his agenda, Politico reported.
