A judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration’s directive to fire tens of thousands of workers across the federal government is likely illegal. But it’s not yet clear what that means for current employees, as well as those who were already terminated under the directive.
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Elon Musk’s plans for mass government firings just hit a legal roadblock
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued the orders earlier this month amid Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts to slash government spending. It targets “probationary” workers who have been in their current position for less than two years, which includes people who have been working in government for a long time and were recently promoted.
A group of labor unions swiftly challenged the directive in federal court, arguing that OPM lacked the authority to order mass firings and that the agency falsely cited employee performance issues. In remarks from the bench on Thursday, the judge in the case ordered OPM to rescind its directive and temporarily blocked planned terminations of civilian employees at the Department of Defense specifically.
US District Judge William Alsup said that “Congress has given the authority to hire and fire to the agencies themselves.”
“The Office of Personnel Management does not have any authority whatsoever, under any statute in the history of the universe, to hire and fire employees at another agency. They can hire and fire their own employees,” he added.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the jobs of federal workers are safe or that terminated employees will be able to return to their old posts. That may depend on what happens next in the courts.
“We know this decision is just a first step, but it gives federal employees a respite,” Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, said in a statement.
What’s next for federal workers?
Alsup will consider whether to block the Trump administration from carrying out further terminations at a March 13 hearing. But even if he does, the Trump administration likely will not give up so easily on their goal of cutting the federal workforce by at least 10 percent.
“The Trump administration would argue that federal courts have no authority to tell us who we have to hire,” said Cary Coglianese, a professor of administrative law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.
At most, any such court interventions may only be able to temporarily delay the Trump administration’s plans. OPM may have to rescind its directive to fire workers, but Alsup acknowledged that government agencies, many now headed by Trump allies, still have the authority to do so themselves. The process might just be slower than it would be under a blunt government-wide directive.
Coglianese said that, just as during his first term, Trump and his allies attempted the “quick and dirty method” to achieve their policy goals, and after facing roadblocks in the courts, will likely “go back at it again in a smarter, more deliberate way, or a way that can be more justified on legal grounds.”
“This won’t be the last in the last skirmish in the larger battle, to be sure,” he said.
new video loaded: Trump Says He ‘Loves the Inflation’ Amid War With Iran
transcript
transcript
Trump Says He ‘Loves the Inflation’ Amid War With Iran
President Trump dismissed the newest inflation report on Wednesday, marking the third-straight month of high prices for consumers. The war in Iran has snarled the world’s energy supply, resulting in high oil and gas prices.
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Reporter: “Are you concerned, Mr. President, about the latest inflation number which came out this morning? Could that be a —” “No, I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love. I love the inflation.” “Inflation to come down between now and —” “When the war is over?” “Yes.” “It’s coming down.” “I know you can’t —” “It’s going to come down like a rock.”
President Trump dismissed the newest inflation report on Wednesday, marking the third-straight month of high prices for consumers. The war in Iran has snarled the world’s energy supply, resulting in high oil and gas prices.
By Jorge Mitssunaga
June 10, 2026
Iran has again claimed attacks on United States military bases in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, and targeted two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for renewed waves of US attacks on the country.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it launched drone strikes on Bahrain’s Sheikh Isa airbase and Kuwait’s Ali Al Salem and Ahmad Al-Jaber airbases early on Thursday.
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The Al-Azraq airbase in Jordan was also targeted with 12 ballistic missiles, it said, while two oil tankers that attempted “to illegally pass through” the Strait of Hormuz were also hit.
Bahrain activated air raid sirens twice, while Kuwait said its air defence systems were “intercepting hostile aerial targets”.
The IRGC said the strikes were in response to the US’s “repeated violations” of an April ceasefire and declared the Strait of Hormuz “closed until further notice”.
All traffic in the waterway, including oil tankers and commercial vessels, would be shot at, it said.
The attacks came after the US’s Central Command announced renewed strikes on “multiple targets” inside Iran. The military said the strikes were at President Donald Trump’s “direction” and “in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression”.
Tit-for-tat exchanges
Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Tehran, said about a dozen places were hit in three waves of attacks by the US, including in the city of Karaj, west of the Iranian capital, and in the central Abyek county.
Iranian state media reported multiple explosions on the islands of Qeshm and Kish and in the cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik along the Strait of Hormuz.
Blasts also hit the southern city of Kargan, wounding at least two people.
The US Central Command, which announced an end to the strikes four hours after they began at 22:15 GMT on Wednesday, said it hit “military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defense sites across Iran”.
The latest exchange came a day after the two sides traded tit-for-tat strikes, triggered by the downing of a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington blamed Tehran for the incident and said the two pilots were rescued uninjured.
Iran said it targeted the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, the Ali Al Salem airbase in Kuwait, as well as an airbase in Azraq, Jordan, on Wednesday. The US, meanwhile, bombed Qeshm Island as well as the ports of Sirik, Jask and Bandar Abbas.
Tehran said the US attacks destroyed two water reservoirs and damaged a telecommunications tower.
Al Jazeera’s Vall said many of the locations hit on Thursday “were similar to those hit during the previous night”. He said that “the Americans are betting on force as the only means for them to force the Iranians to sign a deal, but the Iranians are saying that the result will be the contrary”.
Trump threatens Iran
At the White House on Wednesday, Trump accused Iran of stalling negotiations for a peace deal and threatened to hit the country “very hard”.
“We’ll see what happens with the deal. We were really close to a deal. But they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers,” he told reporters.
Earlier in the day, the US president wrote on his Truth Social platform that Iran had taken too long to negotiate a peace deal and “now they will have to pay the price”.
In a subsequent interview with Fox News, he also threatened to strike power plants and bridges in Iran if it was unwilling to sign an agreement.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian hit back in a post on X.
“Critical infrastructures are the lifeblood of the people. Threats to target them – from transportation networks to the electricity and water industries – are not a show of strength but a sign of desperation in the face of a nation’s will,” he wrote.
“Iran, relying on the knowledge and capabilities of its specialists, national unity, and solidarity, will stand firm against any pressure or threat,” he added.
The US-Iran escalation comes days after Israel and Iran traded fire in their most serious clash since the April ceasefire, which ended weeks of devastating US-Israeli strikes on Iran and Iranian retaliatory attacks across the Gulf.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has remained severely limited ever since, driving up oil and food prices worldwide.
Progress towards a peace deal also remains slow.
The two sides are engaged in indirect talks aimed at securing an interim agreement that would halt hostilities, while deferring Iran’s nuclear programme to future negotiations.
But sticking points remain, with Iran demanding the release of frozen assets and relief from sanctions. Complicating matters further is Israel’s intensifying campaign in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
Case 5:26-cr-20306-JEL-EAS ECF No. 1, PageID.103 Filed 05/20/26 Page 13 of 63
Michigan. They littered the yard and porch with small tents, sheets wrapped to look like dead bodies, dismembered and bloody baby dolls, and a broken crib. They taped a demand note to the front door ordering, among other things, that the University of Michigan divest from Israel. c. On or about May 15, 2024, shortly after police arrived at V-1’s house, @safeumich, @jvpumich and @tahrirumich posted a video of the trespass with this message:
GOOD MORNING, @[V-1]. This morning, on the 76th anniversary of the Nakba, students hand delivered our demands to Regent [V-1]. About 2 weeks ago, she laughed at students demanding divestment while she attended a party next door to our encampment. Regent [V- 1], we will hold you accountable for the 35,000+ Palestinians martyrs whose death you funded and profited from. No matter how many times you call on violent cops to brutalize students, cancel and move your meetings to hide from students, and refuse to admit this university’s and YOUR complicity in genocide, we will continue to protest. You cannot hide. We demand divestment and will remain relentless in the struggle for a free Palestine.
d. On or about May 15, 2024, later in the day, @safeumich posted:
@[V-1] There’s nothing funny about genocide. This morning, the UMich Gaza Solidarity Encampment delivered our demands to Regent [V-1’s] door, the same regent who laughed in our faces as we told her, “[V-1, V-1] you can’t hide, you are funding genocide.” Since this morning, she has reiterated REFUSAL to divest on X. SHAME! We have communicated that the regents must respond to our demands with an open bargaining meeting for divestment by the end of their board meeting TOMORROW!… [V-1], if you aren’t losing sleep after funding mass murder and genocide, then WE WILL WAKE YOU UP!
e. On or about May 17, 2024, Unsalted Counter Info’s website cross-
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