Trump presses Supreme Court to allow mass federal layoffs 

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Donald Trump pushed for more mass firings at the Supreme Court on Friday, asking the justices to rein in a San Francisco judge standing in the way of the White House’s efforts to dismantle large swaths of the federal government.

The emergency application marked the 15th time Trump has asked the justices to intervene in the government’s legal disputes in just the last 16 weeks. During the 16 years spanning the Bush and Obama administrations, the government filed a total of eight emergency appeals.

Coming only one day after the justices held a special argument session to review judges’ authority to block his birthright citizenship executive order, Trump’s latest request concerns implementing reduction-in-force (RIF) notices.

“The district court joined the parade of courts entering improper universal injunctions, extending relief far beyond what was necessary to redress respondents’ alleged injuries,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer wrote.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, a Bill Clinton appointee, issued a temporary restraining order, not an injunction. The restraining order gives the lower courts time to review a request for an injunction. Temporary restraining orders are not typically appealed up to the Supreme Court, but Trump has made a habit of bringing very preliminary issues up to the high court for review.

To rapidly downsize the federal government, the Trump administration sent RIF notices to agencies, prompting mass firings. Labor unions, advocacy groups and local governments sued Trump and almost every executive department, claiming that the administration had exceeded its authority and violated the separation of powers.

However, Trump told the justices that the lower court was at fault.

“As this Court has recognized, federal courts ‘do not possess a roving commission’ to ‘exercise general legal oversight of the … Executive Branch — including its personnel practices,’” Sauer wrote.

The labor unions, nonprofits and local governments say that Trump’s efforts to restructure without congressional authorization would violate the Constitution.

Most of the justices expressed frustration with nationwide injunctions during Thursday’s oral arguments, but the high court seemed more concerned about the consequences of limiting a right backed up by over a century of precedent.

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