Donald Trump. Credit Line: Mandel Ngan / AFP / Profimedia
President Donald Trump's administration on Monday asked the US Supreme Court to suspend a judicial order that blocks the massive availability and the restructuring of federal agencies, part of the efforts to reduce the size and reform the government apparatus, reports Reuters, taken by News.ro.
The request of the Department of Justice came after Judge Susan Illston, from the San Francisco District Court, issued on May 22 a decision that prohibits “personnel reductions”, following a complaint filed by unions, non-profit organizations and local administrations. The federal agents such as the departments of agriculture, trade, health and human services, state, treasury and veterans business are involved.
The Department of Justice argued that the president has full authority over the staff of federal agencies. “The Constitution does not require any limitation on the presidential control of the personnel of the agencies, and the president does not need special permissions from the Congress to exercise the fundamental powers provided by Article II,” the file sent to the Supreme Court shows.
The Supreme Court called on the plaintiffs to respond to the request of the Trump administration until June 9th. In February, Trump ordered federal agencies to begin “immediate preparations” for these massive personnel reductions, as part of the government restructuring plan.
Judge Illston has decided that Trump had surpassed his authority by ordering these discounts. “As history shows, the president can restructure the federal agencies on a large scale only with the approval of the Congress,” he wrote. On May 9, Illston had initially blocked the dismissals for about 20 agencies for two weeks and ordered the re -employment of the available. On May 22, it extended the prohibition for most of these agencies.
The US Court of Appeal of the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, rejected on May 30, the request of the Trump administration to annul the judge's decision. The court considered that the administration did not demonstrate irreparable injury if the order remains in force and that the applicants have high chances of success in the process.
“The executive order concerned exceeds the supervisory powers provided by the Constitution”, concluded the Court of Appeal, appointing the actions of the administration “an unprecedented attempt to restructure the federal government and its functioning”.
Since returning to power in January, the Trump administration has increasingly demanded the intervention of the Supreme Court before the decisions of the lower courts that blocked various policies.
