After being targeted in the DOGE office's efforts to cut federal spending and root out waste, USAID on Friday lost a major court battle, leaving the international aid agency gutted while legal challenges play out.
US District Judge Carl Nichols, in his Friday ruling, allowed President Donald Trump's staff reductions at USAID to proceed, reversing his prior order to halt them pending a request for a temporary injunction brought by the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents about 800,000 federal workers, and the American Foreign Service Association.
Nichols had previously issued a temporary restraining order in the case, forcing the staff reductions to stop while he considered the plaintiffs' argument that an agency shutdown and the immediate recall of international employees back to the US would cause irreparable harm to the employees and their families, who are stationed abroad in service of the agency's humanitarian missions.
"The Court was concerned by this alleged harm when issuing the TRO: it observed that recalling employees on such short notice could subject them to non-financial injuries—like harms to the continuity of their healthcare and their children's education—that no future lawsuit could redress," Nichols wrote in his Friday ruling. "But again, the government's subsequent submissions have convinced the Court that plaintiffs' initial assertions of harm were overstated."
While the USAID workers may still prevail as the case progresses through court — some legal scholars have argued Trump's cuts to federal agencies are "flatly illegal" — the rescinded temporary restraining order leaves the aid agency with the bulk of its US employees on administrative leave.
"We are disappointed in today's decision and believe the harms faced by USAID workers are real," Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward, the legal services firm representing the USAID workers, said in a statement. "We remain confident that the court will find the administration's efforts to decimate USAID contrary to law. We will continue to pursue all legal options in this case in order to ensure the safety of Americans at home and abroad."
Representatives for the White House and the plaintiffs' legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
