WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a lower court’s order requiring the Trump administration to reinstate thousands of fired federal probationary workers.

The conservative-majority top court said the non-profit organisations that filed the case seeking to halt the mass firings lacked legal standing to bring the lawsuit.

William Alsup, a district judge in California, ordered six federal agencies last month to rehire 16,000 probationary workers who were laid off as part of President Donald Trump’s push to slash the size of government.

Alsup said the justification of “poor performance” given for the mass firings was a “sham” and he ordered the departments of the Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Agricul­ture, Defence, Energy and Interior to reinstate fired probationary employees.

The Supreme Court blocked Alsup’s order while litigation in the case continues.

In a 7-2 ruling, the court said the judge’s order “was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organisation plaintiffs in this case.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2025