A great early Valentine’s Day to USAID staff stationed overseas! A Federal judge ordered a reprieve from the global recall and administrative leave – for now.
A Federal judge (appointed by Trump) has temporarily:
- Reinstated 2,700 USAID staff from administrative leave (500 already put on leave plus 2,200 that were to go on leave Friday night)
- Halted recalling all overseas USAID staff to the USA within 30 days
Sadly, he did not:
- Reopen USAID headquarter offices or restart programs at country Missions
- Reinstate $60 billion in foreign assistance funds that support development programs around the globe
- Reinstate Personal Service Contractors and Institutional Support Contractors
Open Question:
- Does his order apply to just the union members or all USAID staff?
District Judge Carl Nichols sided with the American Foreign Service Association and AFGE unions who sued to stop the administration’s efforts to downsize USAID. Union attorney Karla Gilbride argued the plan was unlawful, citing violations of executive authority and the separation of powers.
“The major reduction in force, as well as the closure of offices, the forced relocation of these individuals were all done in excess of the executive’s authority in violation of the separation of powers.”
The judge’s ruling remains in effect until February 14 – Valentine’s Day.
Nichols will consider a request for a longer-term pause at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. He wrote in the order that the unions had made a “strong showing of irreparable harm” if the court did not intervene.
