US Supreme Court clears way for Trump’s federal workforce cuts despite warnings of service disruptions

The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce, despite warnings that it could disrupt important government services and leave hundreds of thousands of employees without jobs.

The justices lifted lower court orders that had temporarily blocked the cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). The court noted that no specific job cuts were directly before them—only Trump’s executive order and a directive for agencies to reduce staff.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenting voice, accusing the court of being too quick to approve what she called the President’s “legally dubious actions.”

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Trump has said voters gave him a mandate to overhaul the federal government. He appointed billionaire Elon Musk to lead the effort through DOGE, though Musk has since stepped down.

So far, tens of thousands of federal workers have either been fired, left through deferred resignation programs, or been placed on leave. While there’s no exact count, at least 75,000 employees have taken deferred resignations, and many probationary workers have already lost their jobs.

In May, US District Judge Susan Illston ruled that Trump’s administration needed approval from Congress to make major workforce reductions. A panel of the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld her decision, warning that the cuts could harm services like food safety and veterans’ healthcare.

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Judge Illston, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, ordered federal agencies to stop enforcing Trump’s executive order from February and a follow-up memo from DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management.

Labor unions and nonprofit groups who sued over the downsizing warned the Supreme Court that some agencies could face staffing cuts of 40 to 50 percent if Trump’s plan goes forward.

The agencies affected include the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Interior, State, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the National Science Foundation, Small Business Administration, Social Security Administration, and Environmental Protection Agency.