Supreme Court OKs Trump’s mass layoffs of federal employees across more than a dozen agencies
Russ Vought, then acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, gives a news conference at the White House in 2019.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

By David G. Savage
Staff Writer Follow
July 8, 2025 1:24 PM PT
- The court has sided regularly with President Trump and his broad view of executive power on matters involving federal agencies.
- Dissenting alone, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court should not have intervened.
In an 8-1 vote, the justices lifted an order from a federal judge in San Francisco who blocked mass layoffs at more than 20 departments and agencies.
The court has sided regularly with President Trump and his broad view of executive power on matters involving federal agencies.
In a brief order, the court said “the Government is likely to succeed on its argument that the Executive Order and Memorandum are lawful,” referring to the plans to reduce staffing. But it said it was not ruling on specific layoffs.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor concurred with the decision on the grounds that it was narrow and temporary.
Dissenting alone, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the court should not have intervened.
“Under our Constitution, Congress has the power to establish administrative agencies and detail their functions,” she wrote.
Supreme Court OKs Trump's mass layoffs of federal employees across more than a dozen agencies
The Supreme Court's conservatives said it was a federal judge in San Francisco, not President Trump, who exceeded her authority.

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