A judge granted a preliminary injunction to stop the Trump Administration from carrying out mass firings of federal probationary employees, temporarily halting the dismissals.
Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced today that he and a group of 20 attorneys general had obtained a preliminary injunction in the case of Maryland et al. v. USDA, which sued multiple federal agencies for the mass termination of federal probationary employees.
The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for Maryland.
While the action is pending, the preliminary injunction requires 20 federal agencies to reinstate probationary employees who were wrongfully terminated and protects federal probationary employees who reside or work in the plaintiff states.
Additionally, the preliminary injunction mandates that those agencies undertake any future force reductions in accordance with legal protocols.
AG Ford joined the coalition on March 6, to sue numerous federal agencies for creating irreversible harm to Nevada and the other plaintiff states.
On March 14, a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order for 18 government agencies in response to the lawsuit's request for urgent relief.
Later, the court extended that injunction by five days, making it expire on April 1.
The Attorney General's Office says this would have had disastrous effects on the plaintiff states, Nevada, and its probationary employees.
They say that while the attorneys general pursue the lawsuit against the federal agencies, the preliminary injunction prolongs the court's previous ruling mandating that the agencies cease the illegal mass terminations and return the positions to the affected employees.
The following federal agencies are prohibited from carrying out any further actions for the duration of the case by the preliminary injunction: the Department of Agriculture; the Department of Transportation; the Department of Commerce; the Department of the Treasury; the Department of Defense; the Department of Veterans Affairs; the Department of Education; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; the Department of Energy; the Environmental Protection Agency; the Department of Health and Human Services; the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; the Department of Homeland Security; the General Services Administration; the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the Office of Personnel Management; the Department of the Interior; the Small Business Administration; the Department of Labor; and the United States Agency for International Development.
The attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin joined AG Ford in this lawsuit, along with the lead state attorney general, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown.
