The justices acted in the administration’s emergency appeal of a ruling by a federal judge in California ordering that 16,000 probationary employees be reinstated while a lawsuit plays out because their firings didn’t follow federal law.
The effect of the high court’s order will keep employees in six federal agencies on paid administrative leave for now.
A second lawsuit, filed in Maryland, also resulted in an order blocking the firings at those same six agencies, plus roughly a dozen more. But that order only applies in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that sued the administration.
The Justice Department is separately appealing the Maryland order.
