WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for President Donald Trump’s plans to downsize the federal workforce despite warnings that critical government services will be lost and hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be out of their jobs.
The justices overrode lower court orders that temporarily froze the cuts, which have been led by the Department of Government Efficiency.
The court said in an unsigned order that no specific cuts were in front of the justices, only an executive order issued by Trump and an administration directive for agencies to undertake job reductions.
The scope of the loss of federal workers is not yet clear in Maine. Throughout the spring, federal heating assistance providers, the Maine State Library and the federally funded Job Corps, among other organizations, lost employees and funding due to Trump’s cuts.
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, publicly opposed the cuts that eliminated the Job Corps.
In May, the senator said that the Job Corps have “become important pillars of support for some of our most disadvantaged young adults.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenting vote, accusing her colleagues of a “demonstrated enthusiasm for greenlighting this President’s legally dubious actions in an emergency posture.”
Story by Mark Sherman, Associated Press. BDN Reporter Leela Stockley contributed to this report.
