Providence, Rhode Island, (AP) A federal court has ordered the Trump administration to suspend plans to reorganize and reduce the size of the country’s health workforce, ruling that recent mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were probably illegal.
In an early May complaint, a coalition of attorneys general from 19 states and the District of Columbia requested a preliminary injunction, which U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose granted.
According to DuBose, the states had demonstrated irreversible injury as a result of the cuts, and they were likely to succeed in their arguments that HHS’s decision was illegal, arbitrary, and capricious.
The executive branch lacks the power to direct, coordinate, or carry out significant modifications to the composition and operations of the agencies established by Congress. In a 58-page ruling, DuBose stated as much in a U.S. federal court in Providence.
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Her ruling prevents the Trump administration from issuing any new firings or completing the layoffs that were announced in March. HHS has until July 11 to provide a status report.
Employees who were fired from four different HHS divisions are covered by the ruling: the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products; the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Head Start and regional office staff involved in Head Start issues; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.
In late March, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reduced the number of agencies from 28 to 15 and laid off almost 10,000 workers. Numerous layoffs that affected hundreds of workers, including those in branches that monitor HIV, hepatitis, and other diseases, have since been canceled by organizations like the CDC.
The attorneys general contended that the extensive reorganization was capricious and beyond the agency’s jurisdiction. Additionally, the lawsuit claims that the action forced excessive costs on states and destroyed vital programs.
According to the lawsuit, the intended outcome was the complete dismantling of numerous HHS initiatives that are essential to public health and safety.
The reductions are a result of a federal order called “Make America Healthy Again” that aims to minimize duplication and streamline expensive agencies.At a hearing on May 14, Kennedy informed senators that HHS is incredibly disorganized and chaotic.
However, important teams that oversee food safety and medications, as well as assist several programs for HIV prevention, tobacco control, and maternity and newborn health, were disbanded due to the restructure. Kennedy has now suggested that 20% of those sacked may be reinstated due to errors.
Democratic governors lead the states that filed the case, and several of the same states, along with a few others, have sued the Trump administration for cutting public health spending by $11 billion. In that lawsuit, a preliminary injunction was issued in the middle of May.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Science and Educational Media Group of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute provide support to the Associated Press Health and Science Department. All content is entirely the AP’s responsibility.
