The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals lifted a lower court order blocking the Trump administration from firing probationary workers, freeing the White House to fire thousands of federal workers.
It blocks a ruling that protected probationary workers from being fired if they live in the 19 states that sued over a Trump directive to fire government workers hired in the last year or two, depending on their agency.
The 2-1 decision determined that a band of Democratic-led states likely do not have standing to sue over the directive, agreeing to lift a lower court ruling that had blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the firings.
In a dissenting opinion, however, Judge DeAndrea Benjamin, a Biden appointee, said states could make the case they were impacted by the widespread firings, including through lost tax revenue and an expected increase in unemployment filings.
The decision lifts an order from U.S. District Judge James Bredar indefinitely barring the Trump administration from terminating thousands of probationary employees. He had declined to extend his order nationwide.
Bredar had previously ordered officials to temporarily reinstate probationary employees fired at 18 agencies, no matter where they physically worked, but narrowed its application in his later ruling.
The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have looked to make sweeping cuts to the federal bureaucracy, including mass terminations of federal employees in their probationary status.
Bredar ruled the mass terminations constitute a “reduction in force,” or RIF, which requires notice and other procedures the Trump administration didn’t follow.
