Trump Administration Seeks Court Order to Conceal Federal Mass Layoff Plans

The Trump administration is attempting to implement widespread layoffs across federal agencies, known as reductions in force (RIFs), while seeking to keep the details of these plans secret by requesting a protective order in federal court. Labor unions and nonprofit groups have sued, alleging that the mass layoffs and agency restructurings are illegal, and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the layoffs and ordered the administration to disclose its plans. However, the administration has delayed providing these details, arguing that disclosure would cause irreparable harm to key government offices involved in the downsizing. Critics argue that the secrecy and scale of the layoffs are part of a broader effort to dismantle the federal government, with unions and others asserting that the president may have exceeded his constitutional authority in pursuing unilateral mass layoffs. The judge temporarily postponed the deadline for the administration to release the layoff plans amid ongoing legal battles. Additionally, the Trump administration has targeted environmental and research programs, such as NOAA’s Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters program, seeking to minimize public knowledge about climate change and its economic impacts by cutting funding and halting data tracking.