A U.S. District Court judge has ordered President Donald Trump to reinstate thousands of federal employees he had dismissed for allegedly underperforming. Judge William H. Alsup of California determined that the terminations of at least 30,000 probationary workers from various federal agencies, including the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Energy, Defense, Agriculture, Treasury, and the Interior, were unjustified.
The firings were part of a broader initiative led by the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a team formed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Their goal is to overhaul the U.S. government by cutting thousands of jobs and reducing the federal wage budget. Once their mission is complete, they plan to disband the department by July 4, 2026—Independence Day.
According to Trump, DOGE’s mission is to eliminate government bureaucracy, reduce unnecessary regulations, cut wasteful spending, and restructure federal agencies.
In his ruling on March 13, Judge Alsup described the firings as deeply troubling, noting, “It is sad, a 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.” Many of the employees who were dismissed found that the reasons cited for their termination, such as poor performance, were misleading, especially since they had received positive performance reviews prior to being let go.
This ruling marks the second time Judge Alsup has addressed the issue. On February 27, he stated that the firings were unlawful because the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) did not have the authority to mandate such dismissals. In response to the massive layoffs, the OPM revised its January 20 memo on probationary employees, which the American Federation of Government Employees argued was an acknowledgment of illegal actions.
The union issued a statement in early March, which read in part: “OPM’s revision of its Jan 20 memo is a clear admission that it unlawfully directed federal agencies to carry out mass terminations of probationary employees – which aligns with Judge Alsup’s recent decision in our lawsuit challenging these illegal firings.” The union has called for the immediate reversal of these terminations and the reinstatement of all employees wrongfully fired.
