Trump admin asks SCOTUS to allow it to move forward with plans to slash federal workforce

The Trump administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court to immediately intervene and allow them to proceed with plans to slash the size of the federal workforce, arguing in an emergency appeal that the district court's decision had inflicted "ongoing and severe harm" on the executive branch.

In its emergency appeal to the high court, U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the lower court ruling is "flawed," and hinges on an "indefensible premise," which is that the executive brach needs Congressional authorization to make personnel decisions, such as the Reductions in Force, or RIFs.

The district court order in question had barred the Trump administration from carrying out its large-scale RIFs at 21 federal agencies, and prevented the administration from taking other, related actions – such as placing federal employees at those agencies on leave, or proceeding with job cuts that had already been in motion under previous RIFs. 

STATE DEPARTMENT NOW SCRUTINIZING ALL VISA HOLDERS ASSOCIATED WITH HARVARD

Sauer argued to the Supreme Court that the lower court ruling "interferes with the executive branch’s internal operations and unquestioned legal authority to plan and carry out RIFs, and does so on a government-wide scale."

"More concretely, the injunction has brought to a halt numerous in-progress RIFs at more than a dozen federal agencies, sowing confusion about what RIF-related steps agencies may take and compelling the government to retain – at taxpayer expense – thousands of employees whose continuance in federal service the agencies deem not to be in the government and public interest," Sauer said. 

The request to the high court comes just days after a split panel for the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco refused on Friday to freeze the lower court order that blocked Trump from fully enforcing its RIFs. 

In their decision, judges for the 9th Circuit wrote that the administration's moves were "unprecedented," and noted: "The executive order at issue here far exceeds the president's supervisory powers under the Constitution."

The emergency appeal is the 18th emergency appeal that lawyers for the Trump administration have submitted to the Supreme Court since Trump was sworn in to his second White House term.

It comes as the administration and federal judges have sparred in court over a number of executive orders and actions from the president, teeing up a high-stakes clash over the powers of the judiciary and the executive branch. 

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.