The Argument: A Clash Over Control of Government Workforce
The Trump administration’s attorneys didn’t mince words, characterizing Judge Alsup’s order as a rogue move—an “interbranch power grab.” They likened the district court’s ruling to a hijacking, claiming it allowed third parties to insert themselves between the federal government and its employees.
“That is no way to run a government,” the government’s brief thundered. “The court’s extraordinary reinstatement order violates the separation of powers, arrogating to a single district court the executive branch’s powers of personnel management.”
Indeed, in Washington’s complex checks-and-balances machine, this battle has become an electric fault line of constitutional interpretation.
New Developments: Unions Enter the Ring
Judge Alsup has since ruled that unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees, do have standing to challenge the mass terminations—adding a fresh wrinkle to the already fraught legal drama. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday focused solely on the nonprofit plaintiffs, not the unions’ emerging role.
