The Supreme Court on Tuesday lifted a lower court order that reinstated thousands of fired probationary Federal employees at six Federal agencies, saying that the unions who filed the lawsuit lack “standing.”
The Supreme Court’s decision applies to employees at the departments of Defense, Agriculture, Interior, Energy, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said they would have kept the lower court’s order in place.
Last month, Judge William Alsup of the U.S. District Court of Northern California ordered the reinstatement of all probationary employees who were fired at the six Federal agencies based on directives from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).
Alsup said OPM, and its acting Director Charles Ezell, had “no authority whatsoever” to direct agency heads to fire probationary employees. Specifically, Alsup called for the reinstatement of Federal employees who were terminated on or about Feb. 13 or 14, and he ordered future firings based on OPM’s orders to be blocked.
“It’s a sad, sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” Alsup said.
The coalition of plaintiffs and co-counsel in the case released a statement on today’s Supreme Court decision, calling it a “setback,” but adding, “This battle is far from over.”
“There is no doubt that thousands of public service employees were unlawfully fired in an effort to cripple Federal agencies and their crucial programs that serve millions of Americans every day,” they said. “Today’s order by the U.S. Supreme Court is deeply disappointing but is only a momentary pause in our efforts to enforce the trial court’s orders and hold the Federal government accountable.”
The plaintiffs in this case include the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); the Main Street Alliance; the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks; the Common Defense Civic Engagement; the Western Watersheds Project; AFGE Local 1216; AFGE Local 2110; VoteVets; and United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP); American Public Health Association; American Geophysical Union; the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO; Climate Resilient Communities; and Point Blue Conservation Science.
The plaintiffs are represented by the law firm of Altshuler Berzon LLP and the State Democracy Defenders Fund (SDDF). The state of Washington is represented by Washington Attorney General Nick Brown.
The case brought by the unions and groups is one of two that is challenging the mass firings of probationary workers. In March, a judge in Maryland, U.S. District Judge James Bredar, ordered affected probationary workers at over a dozen agencies be reinstated.
The Justice Department is separately appealing the Maryland court order.