Employees of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hug each other as they queue outside the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Building, after it was reported that the Trump administration fired staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Food and Drug Administration, as it embarked on its plan to cut 10,000 jobs at HHS, in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 1, 2025.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from sharply cutting jobs and reorganizing the structure of many major federal agencies.
The order issued late Thursday granted a preliminary injunction that pauses further reductions in force and “reorganization of the executive branch for the duration of the lawsuit.”
“Presidents may set policy priorities for the executive branch, and agency heads may implement them. This much is undisputed,” wrote Judge Susan Illston in her order in U.S. District Court for the District of Northern California.
“But Congress creates federal agencies, funds them, and gives them duties that — by statute — they must carry out,” Illston wrote. “Agencies may not conduct large-scale reorganizations and reductions in force in blatant disregard of Congress’s mandates, and a President may not initiate large-scale executive branch reorganization without partnering with Congress.”
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