The administration of US President Donald Trump today asked the Supreme Court to allow it to continue reducing the number of employees in the federal government.
The Justice Department is challenging an order issued last week by a federal judge in San Francisco that temporarily halted Trump's efforts to shrink the federal government, which he calls overburdened and costly.
District Judge Susan Ilston ordered numerous federal agencies to stop acting on Trump's executive order signed in February and a subsequent memorandum issued by the Department of Government Efficiency (DODGE) and the Office of Personnel Management.
A Trump administration official asked the Supreme Court to quickly halt the order, saying Ilston had exceeded her authority. Her order expires next week unless extended.
The case is the latest in a series of urgent appeals the Trump administration has filed with the Supreme Court. The administration filed an urgent appeal with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which has not yet ruled on the case.
Among the agencies affected by the temporary ban are the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Interior, State, Treasury and Veterans Affairs. It also applies to the National Science Foundation, the Small Business Administration, the Social Security Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Tens of thousands of federal employees have been laid off as a result of Trump's efforts to reduce the size of the government. There is no official figure on the number of employees being cut, but at least 75.000 federal employees are either on furlough or have already been laid off.
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