BALTIMORE — A federal judge in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction against the Trump Administration Tuesday barring the mass firing of government probationary workers.
Judge James Bredar, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, sided with Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, Washington D.C., and 18 other states who argued the firings were unlawfully carried out.
The government defended the terminations, claiming they were performance related.
Bredar accused the Trump Administration of being untruthful about their reasoning, suggesting the firings were instead aimed at reducing the size of federal government.
While acknowledging Trump's authority to fire employees, Bredar ruled it must be done a certain way, like providing affected workers 30 to 60 days advance written notice, plus properly notifying the states so they can prepare for an influx of unemployment claims.
To that point, Brown said Maryland received 813 unemployment claims from fired federal workers between January 21 and March 3.
Since in Bredar's opinion, the government failed to follow administrative procedures leading to the firings, he ordered employees from 20 different federal agencies to be reinstated while the lawsuit plays out.
Unlike hisinitial temporary restraining order, which was in effect nationwide, Bredar's injunction only applies to workers living in the 20 jurisdictions that sued.
Maryland is home to the fourth highest number of federal employees in the nation, behind California, Texas and Virginia.
Out of those, just Maryland and California are part of the lawsuit.
Other states currently protected by Bredar's injunction include Minnesota, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Washington D.C.
Here is a list of federal agencies that must rehire employees under the injunction.
| Department of Agriculture | Department of Transportation |
| Department of Commerce | Department of Treasury |
| Department of Defense | Department of Veterans Affairs |
| Department of Education | Consumer Financial Protection Bureau |
| Department of Energy | Environmental Protection Agency |
| Department of Health and Human Services | Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation |
| Department of Homeland Security | General Services Administration |
| Department of Housing and Urban Development | Office of Personnel Management |
| Department of Interior | Small Business Administration |
| Department of Labor | United States Agency for International Development |
Another federal judge in California, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, issued a nationwide injunction covering six government agencies.
Both cases are all but certain to reach the United States Supreme Court.
Recent court rulings have led to swift push back from the White House and Trump allies, from Vice President JD Vance to special Presidential Adviser Elon Musk, who've questioned judges authority to usurp the country's chief executive.
Since Trump's return to office, federal district courts around the nation have issued an unprecedented number of nationwide injunctions slowing down the administration's agenda.
Such decisions have raised separation of power concerns, sparking questions of whether Trump will comply or defy, considering courts have no true enforcement mechanism against a sitting President with sweeping immunity, and control of the DOJ, whose tasked with implementing judicial orders.
Some critics, including Musk, have openly supported the idea of Trump ignoring the courts, since only the Supreme Court, not District Courts are listed in Article III of the U.S. Constitution. Congress, as the legislative branch of the government, later created district and appellate level courts.
For his part, Trump has criticized the courts, but repeatedly said he would abide and appeal.