Supreme Court rules on status of tens of thousands of fired probationary employees

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sided with the Trump administration and upheld the mass firing of tens of thousands of probationary federal employees, granting a request for an emergency administrative stay on a lower court order blocking the firings.

The majority of the high court ruled that the plaintiffs, nine non-profit organizations who had sued to reinstate the employees, lacked standing to sue. 

“The District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case. But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” the court said in an order. 

Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson would have denied the application for a stay.

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A protester holds up a “NO MUSK” sign at the “No Kings on President’s Day” protest in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 17, 2025. (Deirdre Heavey/Fox News Digital)

In their final brief to the Supreme Court, government attorneys argued that lower courts overstepped their authority by ordering the reinstatement of probationary employees last month.

The legal battle stems from the termination of an estimated 16,000 probationary federal employees since President Donald Trump took office, prompting a wave of lawsuits from Democrat-led states and former workers.

Probationary employees are particularly vulnerable to termination because they lack the civil service protections granted to full-time federal workers, which typically take effect after a designated period of service.

Justice Department lawyers have warned that forcing the government to rehire those employees would create “chaos” across federal agencies. They have also maintained that the firings were tied to poor performance – an allegation the dismissed employees strongly dispute.

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Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland James Bredar. (United States District Court for the District of Maryland)

Last month, a federal judge in Baltimore ordered the Trump administration to reinstate probationary employees who had been fired from multiple government agencies.

Chief Judge James Bredar also directed the administration to return within seven days with a list of the affected employees and an explanation of how the agencies were complying with the reinstatement order.

In their Supreme Court filing, the plaintiffs argued that the Trump administration’s “decimation” of probationary staff had caused deep and lasting harm to key federal agencies.

At the Department of Veterans Affairs – already plagued by chronic understaffing – the layoffs have “already had and will imminently continue to have” serious negative consequences for those who rely on its services, the plaintiffs wrote.

“Similarly, cuts to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management have already harmed and will continue to harm the ability of Respondent environmental and outdoor organizations to enjoy and protect a wide range of federal lands and resources,” they said.

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President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The plaintiffs, represented by the American Federation of Government Employees, argued that the terminations have already caused significant disruption across the federal government, impairing agencies’ ability to carry out critical functions.

Most recently, a federal judge in Maryland expanded an order this week requiring the Trump administration to rehire terminated probationary federal employees. The ruling also barred the administration from carrying out future mass firings of probationary staff unless done in accordance with federal laws governing employee removals.

That includes providing affected employees with a 60-day notice period, as required under current civil service regulations.

In a Supreme Court filing, Solicitor General John Sauer argued that the lower court’s injunction had forced the Trump administration to rehire federal workers “despite agencies’ judgments about what best serves their missions.”

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“Courts do not have license to block federal workplace reforms at the behest of anyone who wishes to retain particular levels of general government services,” the government wrote in its brief.

The administration argues that reinstatement is not an appropriate remedy in this case, claiming it exceeds the court’s authority – and that even if the terminations were deemed “unlawful,” that still would not justify such a sweeping order.