A federal appeals court has lifted a lower court’s preliminary injunction that had blocked President Donald Trump’s March executive order seeking to end collective bargaining rights for hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
Trump’s order, issued earlier this year, called for the elimination of collective bargaining across multiple executive branch agencies. Citing the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 and national security concerns, the administration moved swiftly—but was soon met with legal challenges aimed at halting the directive, the Washington Examiner reported.
A federal district judge initially issued a preliminary injunction blocking the executive order, but on Friday, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 2-1 to stay that ruling.
The decision effectively lifts the freeze on the order, allowing it to move forward. However, the court noted that the government has pledged not to terminate any collective bargaining agreements until the ongoing legal challenges over the order’s legality are resolved, the Examiner reported.
“The Union asserts that without a preliminary injunction it will lose bargaining power and suffer reputational harm that will deter present and future membership,” the majority opinion said.
“But those harms are speculative because they would materialize only after an agency terminates a collective-bargaining agreement, and the Government directed agencies to refrain from terminating collective-bargaining agreements or decertifying bargaining units until after the litigation concludes,” the Friday ruling continued.
The court’s opinion did not assess the argument’s merits, but found that the lower district court erred by issuing an injunction without evidence of irreparable harm to the union.
“Because the district court’s preliminary injunction is likely to be vacated for lack of irreparable harm, we need not address the Government’s arguments regarding the Union’s likelihood of success on the merits,” the opinion said.
The collective bargaining order is the latest of the president’s executive actions to face legal challenges, amid mounting scrutiny over his use of executive authority. Issued in March, the order is part of a broader effort by the administration to reshape the federal workforce, a key priority early in the president’s second term.
Also last week, a federal judge struck down parts of former President Joe Biden’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance that said Title VII protections against sex-based employment discrimination also included discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northwestern District of Texas, a Trump appointee, said in his decision that language in the guidance that claimed “sex” in Title VII included sexual orientation and gender identity is “contrary to law,” Fox News reported.
“Sex-based discrimination under Title VII includes employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” the Biden-era guidance said. “Accordingly, sex-based harassment includes harassment based on sexual orientation or gender identity, including how that identity is expressed.”
“The contents of this document do not have the force and effect of law, are not meant to bind the public in any way, and do not obviate the need for the EEOC and its staff to consider the facts of each case and applicable legal principles when exercising their enforcement discretion,” it added.
The lawsuit against the guidance was brought by the conservative group the Heritage Foundation.
“The Biden EEOC tried to compel businesses—and the American people—to deny basic biological truth. Today, thanks to the great state of Texas and the work of my Heritage colleagues, a federal judge said: not so fast,” Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America, said in a press release.
“This ruling is more than a legal victory. It’s a cultural one. It says no—you don’t have to surrender common sense at the altar of leftist ideology. You don’t have to pretend men are women. And you don’t have to lie to keep your job,” he said.