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chrisgeidner.bsky.social
So ... do we have insight into why the "defendants [DOJ, representing the Trump admin] were 'not prepared' to address the merits today"?
A temporary restraining order is appropriate because plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits of their claims under the APA. OMB's September 24, 2025 "Lapse Memorandum" and subsequent documents from the Office of Personnel Management ("OPM") represent "final agency action" within the meaning of the APA. See OMB Lapse Mem.; see also Am. Compl., Ex. B ("OPM Special Instructions"); Dkt. No. 17-3 ("Huddleston Decl."), Ex. C at 50-51 ("OPM Guidance"). If what plaintiffs allege is true, then the agencies' actions in laying off thousands of public employees during a government shutdown and in targeting for RIFs those programs that are perceived as favored by a particular political party— is the epitome of hasty, arbitrary and capricious decisionmaking. The many snafus that plaintiffs detail in their papers, some of which are outlined above, are testament to this. In addition, plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim that OPM and OMB's direction that agencies consider RIFs during a shutdown rests on illegal grounds. In particular, OMB's Lapse Memorandum announces: "With respect to those Federal programs whose funding would lapse and which are otherwise unfunded, such programs are no longer statutorily required to be carried out." OMB Lapse Mem. at 1. The memorandum thus essentially seeks to overturn mandates that Congress has put in place. Neither the OMB/OPM documents themselves, nor defendants in their opposition papers, make any attempt to justify this position. At the hearing, counsel for defendants refused to answer the question of whether or not defendants' action are legal, instead saying that defendants were "not prepared" to address the merits today.
October 16, 2025 at 2:26 AM