Trump at US Supreme Court challenges judge’s federal worker rehiring order

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump’s administration brought its bid to purge the federal workforce to the US Supreme Court on March 24, challenging a

judicial directive to rehire thousands of fired government employees

.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to block a March 13 order by San Francisco-based US District Judge William Alsup for six federal agencies to reinstate thousands of probationary – meaning recently hired – employees dismissed as part of Mr Trump’s campaign to downsize and reshape the government.

The judge faulted the administration for improperly terminating en masse the probationary workers and cast doubt on the justification presented by the government that the firings were the result of poor employee performance.

Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are long-time federal employees serving in new roles. They have fewer job protections than other government workers, but in general can be fired only for poor job performance.

The actions by the judge represented a significant blow to a high-profile effort by Mr Trump and billionaire adviser Elon Musk to

drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy

.

Unions, non-profit groups and the state of Washington claimed that the US Office of Personnel Management exceeded its authority for the mass firings. Mr Alsup, an appointee of Democratic former president Bill Clinton, agreed.

“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” Mr Alsup said at a hearing.

Mr Alsup’s ruling applied to probationary employees at the US Department of Defence, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department. REUTERS