Trump asks Supreme Court to pause thousands of federal employee rehires

March 24 (UPI) — The Trump administration has appealed to the Supreme Court to pause a ruling from a federal judge who ordered the reinstatement of thousands of probationary federal employees who had been fired in February.

Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris filed an application Monday to “stay the injunction” issued by U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California that had ordered the Trump administration on March 13 to “”immediately” — without waiting for a written order — “offer reinstatement to any and all probationary employees terminated on or about February 13th and 14th 2025.”

The fired workers had been employed by agencies such as Veterans Affairs and the Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Defense and Treasury departments.

Harris referred to Alsup’s order as an “extraordinarily overbroad remedy” that “is now inflicting ongoing, irreparable harm on the Executive Branch,” and has asked for the Supreme Court’s “urgent intervention.”

Harris wrote that “Every additional day the injunction remains in effect is a day that six executive agencies are effectively under the district court’s receivership” which necessitated “immediate relief from this Court.”

Probationary workers have been especially targeted for termination as they have fewer job protections, and not generally appeal against such action, but can if they were fired due to “partisan political reasons.”

Harris wrote that some fired probationary employees had already filed complaints with the Office of Special Counsel, which clashed with Alsup’s ruling which she purports interferes with the administrative pathways arranged by Congress to handle firings of that sort.

“The court’s extraordinary reinstatement order violates the separation of powers,” she argued, “arrogating to a single district court the Executive Branch’s powers of personnel management on the flimsiest of grounds and the hastiest of timelines.

Harris further added, “That is no way to run a government. This Court should stop the ongoing assault on the constitutional structure before further damage is wrought.”