Appeals Court Directs Dismissal of Lawsuit Challenging Trump’s Layoffs

In a 2–1 decision, the appeals court said states lacked standing to bring the lawsuit.
Appeals Court Directs Dismissal of Lawsuit Challenging Trump’s Layoffs
President Donald Trump speaks to the Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible in Washington on Sept. 8, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times
Sam Dorman
Sam Dorman
Washington Correspondent
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A federal appeals court has directed a judge to dismiss a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s attempt to lay off federal probationary employees, stating that the blue and purple states that sued lacked standing to do so.

“We acknowledge that the abrupt and indiscriminate dismissal of the probationary employees here exacted all-too-human costs upon those affected,” Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said on Sept. 8.
Sam Dorman
Sam Dorman
Washington Correspondent
Sam Dorman is a Washington correspondent covering courts and politics for The Epoch Times. You can follow him on X at @EpochofDorman.
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