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Federal judge rules Trump plan to cut FEMA by 50 percent was unlawful
The judge said DHS lacked authority to steer FEMA staffing and found officials deleted Signal messages tied to the disputed cuts.
- On Friday, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston ruled that the Trump administration acted unlawfully by ordering the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cut its workforce by half, usurping the Department of Homeland Security's authority over FEMA's own personnel.
- Homeland Security pushed FEMA to reduce its roughly 23,000 employees to about 11,500 by fiscal year 2026, though internal documents revealed the strategy to cut the workforce by 50 percent lacked any reasoned basis.
- Judge Illston wrote that the staffing target "appears as if pulled from thin air," while also faulting officials for using the Signal app to delete messages with auto-delete timers, presuming those lost texts would have hurt the government's case.
- Friday's ruling did not include immediate penalties or remedies, but the court ordered both sides to confer on relief and report back by October 9, with a separate decision expected next month.
- The American Federation of Government Employees challenged the layoffs, arguing they violate federal law adopted after Hurricane Katrina that prohibits significant reduction of FEMA's authorities and threaten its core disaster-response mission.
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Federal Court Rules Trump Administration Usurped FEMA Authority, Violated Katrina Law
Internewscast Internewscast President Donald Trump speaks outside the Oval Office at the White House… This Post: Federal Court Rules Trump Administration Usurped FEMA Authority, Violated Katrina Law first appeared on Internewscast
Clinton-Appointed Federal Judge Rules President Trump’s Administration Broke Federal Law in FEMA Workforce Cut – 100PercentFedUp.com – by Jack
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration violated federal law when the Department of Homeland Security took control of key FEMA staffing decisions and directed the disaster agency to plan for a workforce cut of roughly 50 percent. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued the 32-page decision Friday in San Francisco, granting partial summary judgment to a coalition of labor unions, nonprofit organizations, and local governments. Th…
·Michigan, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources32
Leaning Left8Leaning Right10Center8Last UpdatedBias Distribution38% Right
Bias Distribution
- 38% of the sources lean Right
38% Right
L 31%
C 31%
R 38%
Factuality
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