Mass firings rock US health department after Supreme Court's decision; RFK Jr fires two top aides
Most of the employees were told about the firings on April 1 but the process got delayed owing to a legal battle. That culminated in a US Supreme Court decision July 8 that, the US Department of Health and Human Services said in the email, means the agency 'is now permitted to move forward with a portion of its [reduction in force].'
In April this year, the US health department started a wave of terminations as part of the plan to slash 10,000 jobs and many more across the federal government. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco halted the layoffs, ruling on May 22 that approximately 20 affected agencies, including HHS, wouldn't be able to function as Congress intended. The Supreme Court, in a July 8 ruling, allowed the job cuts to proceed.
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Mass firings at US health department begins
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired two of his top aides- chief of staff Heather Flick Melanson and deputy chief of staff for policy Hannah Anderson- in an abrupt shakeup of the leadership at the nation's sprawling health department, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.
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The decision came after Kennedy lost confidence in them as part of his leadership team, one of the people familiar with the matter said, although it was unclear whether there was a single triggering event that prompted the firings. In a statement, an HHS spokesman confirmed the moves and said the department's White House liaison, Matt Buckham, would serve as acting chief of staff.
The move leaves Kennedy needing to fill key senior positions at HHS just months into his tenure, and at a moment when the department has come under growing scrutiny over its efforts to overhaul the nation's vaccine policies and advance a range of major health and food priorities.
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The Department of Health and Human Services has started formally laying off thousands of staffers, setting in motion Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s sweeping reorganization of the agency.
'You are hereby notified that you are officially separated from HHS at the close of business on July 14, 2025,' read Monday's notice to dismissed HHS employees, according to copies obtained by CNN. 'Thank you for your service to the American people.'
'HHS previously announced our plans to transform this department to Make America Healthy Again and we intend to do just that,' HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in an email to CNN after the Supreme Court's ruling last week.
HHS announced mass layoffs in March
It was in March when
RFK Jr
announced that some 10,000 jobs across the agency would be cut. The FDA—a subdivision of HHS which the Secretary has criticized for being a 'sock puppet' to the pharma industry—would suffer the heaviest blow, with 3,500 roles put at risk. Under Kennedy's restructuring scheme, the CDC would lose 2,400 employees, while 1,200 jobs at the NIH would be eliminated.
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But RFK Jr's plan hit a roadblock with a slew of lawsuits and in May, a coalition of unions, employee groups and local governments sued HHS to stop the action and won. A California judge wrote 'agencies may not conduct large-scale reorganizations and reductions in force in blatant disregard of Congress's mandates.'
That ruling was overturned last week when the US Supreme Court found that the government is 'likely to succeed' in arguing that its overhaul of HHS is 'lawful.' HHS pointed to this ruling in its termination emails to its employees, noting that the agency 'is now permitted to move forward with a portion' of its reduction-in-force initiative.
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