Court allows Trump to end union bargaining for federal workers
A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals put on hold, opens new tab an injunction issued by a lower court judge that had been obtained by six unions including the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco in June had issued the injunction blocking 21 agencies from implementing Trump's March executive order exempting many federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions.
Donato concluded Trump's order retaliated against unions deemed critical of the president and that had sued over his efforts to overhaul the government, including the mass firings of agency employees, violating their right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment.
But the 9th Circuit panel said Trump's order on its face "does not express any retaliatory animus," and it agreed with the Trump administration that the president "would have taken the same action even in the absence of the protected conduct."
The 9th Circuit panel included U.S. Circuit Judge John Owens, an Obama appointee, and U.S. Circuit Judges Bridget Bade and Daniel Bress, two Trump appointees. Another federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., had in May paused a similar order that had also blocked Trump's order.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a statement called the Friday ruling "a setback for First Amendment rights in America." The 9th Circuit put the injunction on hold pending a further appeal, and Kelley said the union is "confident in our ability to ultimately prevail."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump's order exempted more than a dozen federal agencies from obligations to bargain with unions. They include the Departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, and Health and Human Services.
Eliminating collective bargaining would allow agencies to alter working conditions and fire or discipline workers more easily, and it could prevent unions from challenging Trump administration initiatives in court.
Trump's executive order exempted agencies that he said "have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work," from collective bargaining obligations, significantly expanding an existing exception for workers with duties implicating national security.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
India will buy Russian oil despite Trump's threats, NYT reports
Aug 2 (Reuters) - Indian officials have said they would keep purchasing oil from Russia despite the threat of penalties that U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose, the New York Times reported on Saturday. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
BreakingNews.ie
12 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Ghislaine Maxwell moved to prison camp, Trump says no plea for pardon
Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred from a Florida prison to a lower-security facility in Texas to continue serving her 20-year sentence for helping the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls, the US Bureau of Prisons said on Friday. Maxwell's move from FCI Tallahassee, a low-security prison, to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, comes a week after she met with Deputy US attorney general Todd Blanche, who said he wanted to speak with her about anyone else who may have been involved in Epstein's crimes. Advertisement Maxwell's lawyer, David Markus, confirmed she was moved but said he had no other comment. Spokespeople for the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment. I know nothing about the case. Asked during a White House interview with Newsmax on Friday about the possibility of pardoning Maxwell, president Donald Trump said: "I'm allowed to do it, but nobody's asked me to do it." He added:"I know nothing about the case." Asked about what was discussed between Maxwell and the deputy attorney general last week, Mr Trump said he believed Mr Blanche "just wants to make sure that innocent people aren't hurt" should documents in the Epstein probe be released. The BOP classifies prison camps such as Bryan as minimum-security institutions, the lowest of five security levels in the federal system. Advertisement Such facilities have limited or no perimetere fencing. Low-security facilities such as FCI Tallahassee have double-fenced perimeters and higher staff-to-inmate ratios than prison camps, according to the bureau. Asked why Maxwell was transferred, BOP spokesperson Donald Murphy said he could not comment on the specifics of any incarcerated individual's prison assignment, but that the BOP determines where inmates are sent based on such factors as "the level of security and supervision the inmate requires." Mr Blanche's meeting with Maxwell came as Mr Trump faces pressure from both his base of conservative supporters and congressional Democrats to release more information from the Justice Department's investigations of Maxwell and Epstein. Transcripts The department is seeking court approval to release transcripts of law enforcement officers' testimony before the grand juries that indicted Maxwell and Epstein. Such transcripts are usually kept secret. Two federal judges in Manhattan are weighing the government's requests. Advertisement Lawyers for Maxwell, Epstein, and their alleged victims are due to share their positions on the potential unsealing with the judges in filings on Tuesday. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He had pleaded not guilty. Neither Mr Markus nor Mr Blanche has provided detailed accounts of what they discussed. Mr Markus has said Maxwell would welcome relief from Mr Trump. Maxwell was found guilty at a 2021 trial of recruiting and grooming girls for Epstein to abuse. She had pleaded not guilty and is asking the US Supreme Court to overturn her conviction.
Daily Mail
12 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Donald Trump says US nuclear attack submarines are now 'closer to Russia' after he re-deployed them over Kremlin's 'foolish and inflammatory' taunts
Donald Trump has revealed that a pair of US nuclear submarines 'are moving closer' to Russia after he deployed them in response to an escalating war of words with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The move of the nuclear submarines to 'appropriate regions', which the US President described as a 'terrible situation', appeared to be symbolic – the U.S. already has a fleet of dozens of nuclear-powered subs that are constantly ready to strike in the event of a conflict. But tensions notched up another level as Trump admitted they were getting closer. 'They are closer to Russia yeah, it's a terrible situation,' he told Newsmax. It increases the tension once again after Trump announced he was moving up his ultimatum for Russia to agree to end the war. 'We had to do that. We just have to be careful. And a threat was made and we didn't think it was appropriate. So I have to be very careful,' Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Friday for a weekend at his New Jersey golf club. 'A threat was made by a former president of Russia, and we're going to protect our people,' he added. If Russia fails to strike a peace deal by the end of next week, Trump said he will impose punishing 'secondary sanctions' on nations who trade with Russia. Trump made the decision to deploy the submarines after 'highly provocative statements' of Russia's ex-President Dmitry Medvedev - who now serves as deputy of Russia's Security Council. The United States has a total of 14 Ohio Class nuclear-powered submarines, each capable of carrying up to 24 Trident II D5 ballistic missiles that can deliver multiple thermonuclear warheads up to 4,600 miles. Between 8 and 10 Ohio Class submarines are deployed at any one time, according to the Nuclear Threat Initiative arms control group. Medvedev had called Trump's sanctions threat a clear 'step toward war,' clearly incensing the president. 'I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that,' Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday afternoon. 'Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences, I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Medvedev, the former president of Russia who stepped aside when Vladimir Putin took a break from the top post, drew Trump's ire with his own post this week. 'Trump's playing the ultimatum game with Russia…Each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war. Not between Russia and Ukraine, but with his own country. Don't go down the Sleepy Joe road!' he wrote. The United States has a total of 14 Ohio Class nuclear-powered submarines, each capable of carrying up to 24 Trident II D5 ballistic missiles Trump then tore into the Russian with angry posts around midnight Thursday. 'Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he's still President, to watch his words. He's entering very dangerous territory,' Trump wrote. Trump's jabs at Medvedev, who is often a caustic critic of U.S. policy, allows him to steer clear of Putin – with whom Trump has shown obvious frustration in recent weeks, despite Trump often referring him to him as someone he can 'get along with.' Trump has lamented apparently positive phone conversations with Putin followed within hours by Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and towns. Trump's threats come after Russia launched yet another devastating attack on Kyiv overnight, which killed dozens of people and a six-year-old boy. Russia has routinely been sending swarms of hundreds of drones to attack Ukraine, with houses and apartment buildings suffering regular blasts. An estimated 31 people were killed and 150 injured during Thursday's attacks. Wrote Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in response while posting a video: 'Kyiv. Missile strike. Directly into a residential building. People under the rubble. All services are on site. Russian terrorists.' 'All disappointments come from inflated expectations,' said Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday in response to Trump's expedited deadline issued Monday In his own first public comments since Trump threw down his abbreviated ultimatum, Putin criticized 'inflated' expectations about ending a war he ordered in 2022 by launching a cross-border attack on Russia's neighbor. 'All disappointments come from inflated expectations,' Putin said. 'In order to solve the issue in a peaceful way, we need deep conversations, not in public, but in the silence of a negotiating process.' Trump's reference to nuclear subs suggests both their stealth and massive firepower. Each of the 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile subs carries up to 20 Trident II missiles, with a range of up to 7,500 miles and up to eight nuclear warheads, with 160 warheads in total. The warheads are capable of causing a 475-kiloton explosion, vastly more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Trump said last month at the White House while meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte that first lady Melania Trump had taken to raising the issue of the toll on civilians. 'I go home, I tell the first lady, "You know, I spoke to Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation." And she said, "Oh really? Another city was just hit,"' Trump told reporters. Those comments coincided with an increasingly tough verbal posture on Putin from the president, who has now threatened to slap new sanctions on Russia as well as its trading partners. Just weeks ago, the Pentagon had imposed a temporary freeze on arms transfers to Ukraine, reflecting a move in Trump's administration away from the pro-Ukraine position of President Biden's, which shoveled billions of military aid to Kyiv after Moscow's invasion. Trump and his team, meanwhile, have been fighting a rhetorical battle over a 2017 intelligence assessment that Russia preferred Trump in the 2016 elections.
