A federal court Tuesday issued an injunction against President Trump’s decision to strip collective bargaining rights from a wide swath of federal employees, saying his move amounted to illegal political retaliation against major labor unions.
Judge James Donato, an Obama appointee to the federal court in California, said the White House justified Mr. Trump’s order by saying he was targeting labor unions that have opposed his agenda, which he said seems like unconstitutional retaliation against the unions for their political stances.
“All of this is solid evidence of a tie between the exercise of First Amendment rights and a government sanction,” the judge wrote.
Mr. Trump, in a March 27 executive order, triggered a portion of federal law that allows the president to strip collective bargaining rights in cases where he believes it would impinge on national security.
His order listed dozens of federal agencies and divisions that the president determined have a national security nexus and where employees needed to lose their bargaining power.
They ranged from the Federal Communications Commission and the National Science Foundation to the Treasury, Justice and Veterans Affairs departments.
“Protecting America’s national security is a core constitutional duty, and President Trump refuses to let union obstruction interfere with his efforts to protect Americans and our national interests,” the White House said in justifying the order.
But Judge Donato said that during a hearing, even the government’s lawyer “had a hard time saying why an agency like the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases might be properly regarded as having a primary mission of national security.”
He said Mr. Trump’s reasoning on national security matters deserves deference, but he said that doesn’t overcome the court’s ability to look to see whether unconstitutional retaliation was at stake — and he ruled that it likely was.
A federal judge in Washington had previously issued a similar ruling specifically on employees at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
But that ruling was put on hold last week by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
The appellate judges said the law gives Mr. Trump “broad authority” to decide on exclusions.
“When a statutory delegation invokes the president’s discretion in exercising core Article II responsibilities, there is little for a court to review,” the three-judge circuit panel said.
