Thu Feb 13 02:39:50 UTC 2025: **Federal Judge Clears Trump’s Federal Workforce Downsizing Plan**

**Washington, D.C. – February 13, 2025** – A Boston federal judge has removed a major legal obstacle to President Donald Trump’s plan to reduce the size of the federal workforce. The ruling, which dismissed a lawsuit filed by labor unions, is a significant victory for the Trump administration after facing several legal defeats.

The program, spearheaded by Elon Musk, Trump’s top advisor on federal spending reduction, allows federal employees to resign and receive pay until September 30th. The White House claims that 65,000 employees have already accepted the offer, and the program is now closed to new applicants.

While the White House celebrated the decision as a vindication of the President’s policies, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) expressed disappointment, stating that the ruling doesn’t address the legality of the program itself. The AFGE argues the program forces employees into hasty decisions without sufficient information and equates the offered compensation to an “unfunded IOU.” The union plans to explore further legal avenues.

Judge George O’Toole Jr., who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, ruled that the unions lacked legal standing to challenge the program because they weren’t directly affected. A new lawsuit has been filed in Washington, D.C., but its impact remains to be seen. The Justice Department has defended the program as a “humane off-ramp” for employees adjusting to post-pandemic work arrangements.

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