'Illegal and capricious': Federal judge attempts to halt firings of federal workers
Federal judge blocks firing of federal workers
A federal judge is attempting to block the firings of federal workers by the Trump administration during the government shutdown. She called the move "illegal" and "capricious." FOX 5's Homa Bash on the hill to break down the latest.
WASHINGTON - A federal judge is attempting to block the firings of federal workers by the Trump administration during the government shutdown. She called the move "illegal" and "capricious."
Labor unions promised to file the lawsuit as soon as the firings began last Friday, celebrating a temporary injunction and of course, all of this comes as the tenth vote to reopen the government once again failed in the Senate.
Big picture view:
President Donald Trump is doubling down on the cuts.
"They should really make a deal. So what we're doing, I mean, they call him Darth Vader, but he's actually a very nice person. Russell, vote. But Russell vote is really terminating tremendous numbers of Democrat projects. This is not only jobs," Trump said.
The lawsuit was filed by labor unions immediately after the administration began "RIFs," or reductions in force, five days ago, attempting to fire furloughed federal workers.
Dig deeper:
More than 4,000 government employees have received RIF notices since Friday but Judge Susan Illston, appointed in 1995 by Bill Clinton, said the Trump administration "took advantage of the lapse in government spending and government functioning to assume that all bets are off, the laws don't apply to them anymore."
Her temporary injunction is in place for at least two weeks and the ruling comes as White House budget director Russ Vought said today on a podcast that the firings could be "north of 10,000 workers."
What they're saying:
"House Republicans shut the government down, then they ran out of town, and for the last three weeks they are nowhere to be found," House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said.
"If the Democrats vote not to keep government closed as they have so many times, troops will miss a paycheck at the end of this month," said House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Johnson has predicted this may become the longest government shutdown in history.