Sotomayor breaks with Jackson in Supreme Court decision over Trump cuts to federal workforce

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s dissent in a Supreme Court order handed down on Tuesday stood out enough that it prompted one of her liberal colleagues to voice disagreement with her.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said in a brief concurrence that the high court’s 8-1 order clearing the way for President Donald Trump to continue downsizing the government was the right decision.

“I agree with Justice Jackson that the President cannot restructure federal agencies in a manner inconsistent with congressional mandates,” Sotomayor wrote. “Here, however, the relevant Executive Order directs agencies to plan reorganizations and reductions in force ‘consistent with applicable law’ … and the resulting joint memorandum from the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Personnel Management reiterates as much.”

WHY JUSTICE JACKSON IS A FISH OUT OF WATER ON THE SUPREME COURT

Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson stands as she and members of the Supreme Court pose for a new group portrait following her addition, at the Supreme Court building in Washington, Oct. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File )

Sotomayor’s remarks were included as part of a short two-page order from the Supreme Court saying the executive order Trump signed in February directing federal agencies to plan for “large-scale reductions in force (RIFs), consistent with applicable law” was likely lawful.

The Supreme Court said it had no opinion at this stage on the legality of any actual job cuts and that that question was not before the high court.

But Jackson felt differently, according to her 15-page dissent affixed to the order.

Jackson, the most junior justice and an appointee of former President Joe Biden, said a lower court judge was right to pause any further reductions to the federal workforce. Jackson lectured her colleagues for thinking otherwise.

FEDERAL JUDGE ORDERS HALT TO TRUMP ADMIN’S CFPB TERMINATIONS

FILE – Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, gestures as she speaks about her home life as a child and what drove her to a career in law and to author several books including an autobiography, “The Beloved World of Sonia Sotomayor,” Aug. 17, 2019, at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson, Miss.  (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis, File)

“That temporary, practical, harm-reducing preservation of the status quo was no match for this Court’s demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture,” Jackson said.

Any future government downsizing would come on top of thousands of government employees already losing their jobs or opting to accept buy-out plans as part of Trump’s stated goals to scale down the federal government and make it run more efficiently.

The Supreme Court is photographed, Feb. 28, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

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The Supreme Court’s order arose from a lawsuit brought by labor organizations and nonprofits, who alleged that the president’s decision to dramatically slash the federal workforce infringed on Congress’s authority over approving and funding government jobs.

The order was issued on an emergency basis and is only temporary. It will remain in place while the Trump administration appeals the lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.