Court halts judge's command for Trump administration to surrender RIF list record
The Supreme Court's recent decision has paved the way for the Trump administration's large-scale federal workforce reductions and reorganizations, following the lifting of lower court injunctions that had temporarily halted these actions.
In early July 2025, the Supreme Court cleared the way for the administration to continue downsizing the federal workforce, despite ongoing legal challenges and concerns about the impact on critical government services [1][2][4][5]. The court's order focused on the lawfulness of President Trump's executive order (EO 14210) and related memoranda, not on individual agency reduction-in-force (RIF) or reorganization plans, which remain subject to further legal scrutiny.
While the details of the RIFs have not been disclosed, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay on U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston's order for the government to turn over RIF plans, keeping agency plans confidential for now and delaying the release of detailed information about the staffing reductions [3].
Despite the lack of disclosure, the Department of Veterans Affairs has announced it will not conduct any RIFs. Instead, it will rely on federal employees who choose to leave through the deferred resignation program and other voluntary separation and retirement incentives to reach its staffing reduction goals [6].
The Trump administration maintains that agencies' workforce reshaping efforts are "predecisional" and "may or may not materialize" [7]. However, several agencies have already moved forward with terminating thousands of federal employees following the Supreme Court decision earlier this month [8].
The Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) had earlier this year required all agencies to put together Accountability and Regulatory Reform Plans (ARRPs) with specific steps and deadlines for implementation [9]. The government's lawyers, however, have refused to provide details of where RIFs and reorganizations were set to take place across agencies.
Attorneys for the federal union that's suing the administration argue that the district court's case "can and should proceed" because the Supreme Court didn't reach a final decision on whether the RIFs actually violate the law [10]. Without disclosing details of the RIFs, the union's attorneys say the court would be unable to evaluate the legality of the Trump administration's actions.
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References: 1. [Link to Reference 1] 2. [Link to Reference 2] 3. [Link to Reference 3] 4. [Link to Reference 4] 5. [Link to Reference 5] 6. [Link to Reference 6] 7. [Link to Reference 7] 8. [Link to Reference 8] 9. [Link to Reference 9] 10. [Link to Reference 10]
- The recent policy-and-legislation from the Trump administration, represented by EO 14210 and related memoranda, seeks to reimagine the federal workforce by reducing its size, a move that has been cleared by the Supreme Court.
- The ongoing politics surrounding the federal workforce reimagination involves legal challenges, concerns about critical government services, and policy debates over the Accountability and Regulatory Reform Plans (ARRPs) that have been mandated by the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management.
