Breaking News: Federal Judge Takes Decision on  Trump’s Mass Firings of Federal Workers

A federal court in Washington has permitted President Donald Trump’s mass firings of government employees to proceed.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled Thursday that unions representing the workers could not temporarily prohibit the layoffs. He determined that their complaint amounted to an employment dispute and required a distinct procedure provided in federal employment law.

Cooper acknowledged that the Republican president’s second term “has been defined by an onslaught of executive actions that have caused, some say by design, disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society.”

But Cooper, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, a Democrat, wrote that judges are “duty-bound to decide legal issues based on even-handed application of law and precedent – no matter the identity of the litigants or, regrettably at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people.”

The ruling comes as thousands of federal government employees have been shown the door during in the first month of Trump´s second administration.

The administration argued in court the unions failed to show that they were facing the kind of irreparable, immediate harm that would justify an emergency order stopping layoffs.

Unions representing hundreds of thousands of federal workers argue that Trump’s plans to reduce the workforce violate Congress’ authority to influence agency size and direction through budget decisions and laws governing layoffs.

The president of the National Treasury Employees´ Union, Doreen Greenwald, said that Cooper´s decision was a temporary setback and that “federal employees will get their day in court to challenge the unlawful mass firings and other attacks on their jobs, their agencies, and their service to the country.”

The complaint is one of more than 80 opposing Trump’s executive directives. This week, unions filed a second lawsuit in California to challenge mass firings.