WHY SO MANY OWE AFGE SO MUCH

AFGE just won an injunction stopping White House actions against federal employees that is not just a “whopper,” but a “mega-whopper.”  The Trump-Musk axis ordered agencies to undertake wholesale RIFs’ so it can generate enough alleged savings to justify another tax cut for the wealthy—and contract out the work to privateers. AFGE creatively put together a team of other unions, about a dozen non-profit organizations, and six local governments charging the President’s actions are against the law and arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion. Long story short, AFGE won an injunction blocking any RIF’s for two weeks while the court considers further action against the White House Fed-haters.

The court began by schooling the White House as if they were in a sixth-grade elementary class for the slow kids.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution vests in Congress the legislative power. U.S. Const. art. I, 1. “To Congress under its legislative power is given the establishment of offices, [and] the determination of their functions and jurisdiction . . . .” Myers v. United States, 272 U.S. 52, 129 (1926). “Congress has plenary power over the salary, duties, and even existence of executive offices.” Free Enter. Fund, 561 U.S. at 500 (emphasis added). While “[t]he President may create, reorganize, or abolish an office that he established,” the Constitution does not authorize him “to enact, to amend, or to repeal statutes.” Clinton v. City of New York, 524 U.S. 417, 438 (1998) (emphasis added); see also Nat’l Fed’n of Indep. Bus. v. Dep’t of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Admin., 595 U.S. 109, 117 (2022) (“Administrative agencies are creatures of statute.”).

It followed that with this gut punch to the Fed-haters’ plan to keep the courts out of the President’s business.

The ability to enjoin unconstitutional action by government officials dates back to the courts of equity, “reflect[ing] a long history of judicial review of illegal executive action, tracing back to England.” Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that the President’s Executive Order 14210 is ultra vires [against thee law], as the President has neither constitutional nor, at this time, statutory authority to reorganize the executive branch. “In the framework of our Constitution, the President’s power to see that the laws are faithfully executed refutes the idea that he is to be a lawmaker. The Constitution limits his functions in the lawmaking process to the recommending of laws he thinks wise and the vetoing of laws he thinks bad. And the Constitution is neither silent nor equivocal about who shall make laws which the President is to execute.” As history demonstrates, the President may broadly restructure federal agencies only when authorized by Congress.

In short, the court reminded Trump he was not elected king, Fuhrer, Supreme Leader, or czar. Hopefully, it is fresh enough in his mind that he remembers he recently lost out on his pope bid as well.

The White House tried to defend itself first by lying –BIG SURPRISE–to the court by claiming that neither Trump nor Musk ordered “the agencies to take any specific actions, and OMB and OPM were merely providing guidance.” Tell that to the thousands of folks who are about to lose their livelihood. After leading with a boldface lie, the Fed-haters followed up with a fantasy—REMEMBER THE CURE ALL HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE AND THE BENEFITS OF SWALLOWING BLEACH–by arguing that even if it did order staff cuts it also ordered no reduction in services. That, they argued,would avoid  any adverse impact on anyone by the shyster magic of ‘doing more with less.” The judge blew creeater size holes in both pleas. (When  are these judges going to start holding the White House in contempt for constantly lying to them, e.g., a trip to a certain El Salvadore prison?)

Maybe the best part of the decision was that the judge decided to protect not just the people represented by AFGE and the other plaintiffs, but a much wider class of feds.  We have included his order below so you can check whether you are protected.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that, pending consideration of a

preliminary injunction, the agency defendants (as delineated below)

and their officers or employees or any other individuals acting under

their authority or the authority of the President are hereby enjoined

and/or stayed from taking any actions to implement or enforce

sections 3(c) and 3(e) of Executive Order 14210 or the February 26,

2025 OMB/OPM Memorandum, including but not limited to:

(1) any further approval of ARRPs or waivers of statutorily-mandated

RIF notice periods by OMB and OPM;

(2) any further orders by DOGE to agencies to cut programs or staff

in conjunction with implementing the Executive Order, the

OMB/OPM Memorandum, or the ARRPs;

(3) any further implementation of the Executive Order, the

OMB/OPM Memorandum, or ARRPs by Federal Agency

Defendants, including but not limited to: execution of any existing

RIF notices (including final separation of employees), issuance of any

further RIF notices, placement of employees on administrative leave,

and transfer of functions or programs between the agency defendants.

This restraining order shall last fourteen days, through Friday, May

23, 2025, unless the Court finds good cause to extend it. See Fed. R.

Civ. P. 65(b)(2). The restraining order shall apply to the following

defendant agencies: OMB, OPM, DOGE, USDA, Commerce,

Energy, HHS, HUD, Interior, Labor, State, Treasury, Transportation,

VA, AmeriCorps, EPA, GSA, NLRB, NSF, SBA, and SSA.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, good cause having been shown

pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(d), OMB and OPM

must provide to the Court and to Plaintiffs (1) the versions of all

defendant agency ARRPs submitted to OMB and OPM, (2) the

versions of all defendant agency ARRPs approved by OMB and

OPM, (3) any agency applications for waivers of statutorily-mandated

RIF notice periods, and (4) any responses by OMB or OPM to such

waiver requests, by 4:00 p.m. (PDT) on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.

IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, by 3:00 p.m. (PDT) on Tuesday,

May 13, 2025, defendants shall serve and file a declaration(s)

Case 3:25-cv-03698-SI Document 85 Filed 05/09/25 Page 40 of 42