Judge Keeps Trump Layoffs Suit Alive but Tosses DOGE Claims (1)

The most expansive challenge to the Trump administration laying off thousands of federal workers was largely kept alive by a California federal judge, giving the plaintiffs an opportunity to prove the president is overextending his authority.

Judge Susan Illston of the US District Court for the Northern District of California denied the administration’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit with the exception of claims against the Department of Government Efficiency.

Illston held that while the substance of the DOGE claims were enough to defeat the motion to dismiss, the government-wide initiative was “not a properly named defendant.” She agreed to give the plaintiffs until Sept. 30 to amend the complaint to “more precisely identify” DOGE.

A coalition of 25 plaintiffs, headed by the American Federation of Government Employees, sued President Donald Trump in April accusing him of violating the US Constitution by unilaterally rearranging executive branch agencies without consent from Congress.

Illston, a Clinton appointee, issued a preliminary injunction to halt the layoffs but the US Supreme Court stayed that order, allowing the administration to move forward with firing thousands of government employees.

The government sought to toss the extensive challenge in response to the high court finding it was likely to prevail in the case. Illston said in Monday’s ruling that the rest of the administration’s effort to dislodge the lawsuit failed because the Supreme Court’s emergency order couldn’t be considered a ruling on the merits.

The judge also reaffirmed her previous findings that the court has jurisdiction to consider the claims, rejecting the administration’s arguments that they should be channeled through administrative review processes first.

The plaintiffs are represented by Altshuler Berzon LLP, the Democracy Forward Foundation, Protect Democracy, and AFGE. The government was represented by the Justice Department.

The case is AFGE v. Trump, N.D. Cal., No. 3:25-cv-03698, 9/9/25.