A federal judge has blocked much of President Trump’s executive order trying to cancel collective bargaining rights for tens of thousands of federal workers, saying the move was “unlawful.”
Judge Paul Freidman, a Clinton appointee to the court in the District of Columbia, ruled in favor of the National Treasury Employees Union and said any federal agencies that employ NTEU members cannot carry out Mr. Trump’s union-busting order.
He said he would issue a full written opinion in the coming days.
The president last month moved to reclassify a wide swath of federal employees as core national security workers, which under the law means they can be stripped of their collective bargaining rights. Mr. Trump whacked everything from the State Department and Justice Department to the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Judge Friedman, during a hearing this week, said Mr. Trump’s order was an attempt at political payback.
He said the White House justified the order by saying it needed to reel in “certain federal unions” that “have declared war on President Trump’s agenda.”
“Not on the Constitution, not on the American people, not on the government. President Trump’s agenda,” the judge said. “He’s willing to be kind to those that work with him, but those that have sued him, those that have filed grievances, those that have complained against him, he’s not going to bargain with.”
The Justice Department had defended Mr. Trump’s actions, saying he needed flexibility to determine who qualified as a core national security employee.
Judge Friedman, though, questioned the inclusion of agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the list.
“What about FEMA? Does it have as its primary function national security?” he demanded.
The ruling comes even as Mr. Trump has gone on the offensive in another federal courtroom, suing the NTEU to try to preemptively enforce the union-busting policy.
That court held a hearing Friday and is awaiting more briefing before issuing a ruling.
