Donald Trump suffers DOGE legal blow

The Trump administration suffered a legal blow on Friday when an appeals court refused to halt an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of California that blocked sweeping federal employment cuts overseen by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

In a 2-1 ruling the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded the decision would have a dramatic impact on a range of government services including veteran health care and food safety inspections and concluded it should remain on hold whilst the lawsuit continues.

The case had initially been brought by a coalition of cities, including Chicago and San Francisco, labor unions and campaign group Democracy Forward.

Illston’s initial order instructed the government to halt a workforce executive order on employment cuts issued in February and a subsequent memo to this end from DOGE and the Office of Personnel Management.

This is a developing story and will be updated.