President Trump's administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift a federal judge's order to halt large-scale staffing cuts and the restructuring of agencies, part of his campaign to downsize and reshape the federal government.
The DOJ's request came after U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco blocked large-scale federal layoffs known as "reductions in force" for 14 days in a May 9 ruling siding with a group of unions, nonprofits and local governments that challenged the administration.
"That far-reaching order bars almost the entire executive branch from formulating and implementing plans to reduce the size of the federal workforce, and requires disclosure of sensitive and deliberative agency documents that are presumptively protected by executive privilege," the department wrote in its filing.
Read more from John Kruzel and Andrew Chung.
