Trump admin asks SCOTUS to allow it to move forward with plans to slash federal workforce

The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene and allow them to proceed with their plans to slash the size of the federal workforce, arguing in an emergency appeal that the lower court’s decision had inflicted “ongoing and severe harm” on the executive branch.

In the emergency appeal, Trump lawyers told justices that the lower court ruling “interfere with the executive branch’s internal operations and unquestioned legal authority to plan and carry out RIFs,” or Reductions in Force, “and does so on a government-wide scale.”

More concretely, the injunction has brought to a halt numerous in-progress RIFs at more than a dozen federal agencies, sowing confusion about what RIF-related steps agencies may take and compelling the government to retain – at taxpayer expense – thousands of employees.”

The emergency appeal is the 18th emergency appeal that lawyers for the Trump administration have submitted to the Supreme Court since Trump was sworn in to his second White House term. It comes as the administration and federal judges have sparred in court over a number of executive orders and actions from the president, teeing up a high-stakes clash over the powers of the judiciary and the executive branch. 

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.