Trump to launch new layoffs even as courts rule to reinstate employees

PRESIDENT Donald Trump's administration is expected on Friday to move ahead with a second wave of mass firings and budget cuts across the U.S. government, just one day after two federal judges ordered the reinstatement of thousands of workers.

Federal agencies had faced a Thursday deadline to submit large-scale downsizing plans as part of Trump's push to radically remake the federal bureaucracy, a task he has largely left to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Reuters reported today.

So far, DOGE has overseen potential cuts of more than 100,000 jobs across the 2.3 million-member federal civilian workforce, the freezing of foreign aid, and the cancellation of thousands of programmes and contracts, Reuters reported today.

Opponents of Trump's radical remaking of government have tried to slow him with lawsuits. Rulings in federal courts in California and Maryland on Thursday ordered agencies to reinstate thousands of probationary employees who had been dismissed in recent weeks.

The White House, calling the judges partisan activists, vowed to fight back. The California ruling has already been appealed.

"This injunction is entirely unconstitutional," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Friday. "You cannot have a low-level District Court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States."

Financial markets have already been rattled by the economic risks posed by Trump's global trade war. Stock markets have fallen dramatically over the past two weeks, wiping out US$5 trillion in value over concerns that Trump's policies could lead to a recession, although Wall Street stocks were higher on Friday.

With the tech billionaire Musk at his side, Trump signed an executive order on February 11 directing all agencies to "promptly undertake preparations to initiate large-scale reductions in force," using a legal term commonly referred to as RIF to denote mass layoffs.

A subsequent memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said plans should include "a significant reduction" of full-time staff, cuts to real estate, a smaller budget, and the elimination of functions not mandated by law. – March 15, 2025