In a Tuesday emergency order, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a preliminary injunction by a U.S. District Judge in California ordering federal agencies including the Department of Energy to rehire 16,000 probationary employees.
The March 13, preliminary injunction entered by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California is stayed pending the disposition of the appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the high court said.
“The District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case,” the high court said. “But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing.”
The ruling was 7-2 to reverse the injunction by U.S. District Judge William Alsup finding the Office of Personnel Management lacked authority to order the mass firings, the Washington Post reported.
The U.S. Justice Department filed a legal brief with the Supreme Court April 4. The American Federation of Government Employees filed its brief April 3.
In a separate case, a federal district court judge in Baltimore recently agreed to a preliminary injunction compelling the rehiring of federal probationary staff in 19 states and the District of Columbia. That decision is being challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
