Chicago – June 14, 2025
A federal judge in California on Friday temporarily blocked the U.S. State Department from implementing an agency-wide reorganization plan that includes nearly 2,000 layoffs.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said during a virtual hearing that her May ruling barring federal agencies from laying off tens of thousands of employees at the direction of President Donald Trump applies to the planned overhaul announced by the State Department in April.
The State Department had argued that its reorganization plan, submitted to Congress last month, predated a February executive order and subsequent White House memo directing mass layoffs, placing it outside the scope of Illston’s decision.
But Illston said various State Department documents, including a budget proposal recently submitted to Congress, explicitly cited Trump’s order.
“If things proceed consistent with that executive order, even if they were initiated in some different way … then they are barred,” said Illston, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
U.S. Department of Justice lawyer Alexander Resar said in response that the State Department would not issue layoff notices that were scheduled to go out on Saturday.
The ruling came in a lawsuit by a group of unions, nonprofits and municipalities.
The State Department and lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
