By Charlie McCarthy
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt reiterated on Friday that the administration plans to contest an "activist" judge's ruling requiring six federal agencies to rehire thousands of probationary workers.
The workers had been laid off as part of President Donald Trump's efforts to streamline the federal government.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Alsup criticized the justification of "poor performance" for the widespread layoffs last month, calling it a "sham" aimed at evading legal requirements, according to The New York Times
"Fighting back by appealing. Fighting back by using the full weight of the White House counsel’s office and our lawyers within the federal government who believe this injunction is entirely unconstitutional—and it is, for anyone with a basic understanding of the law," Leavitt said to reporters outside the White House.
"You can't have a low-level district court judge issuing an injunction to undermine the executive authority of the President of the United States. It’s completely absurd. As the head of the executive branch, the president has the right to hire and fire. Yet, you have these lower-level judges attempting to block this president’s agenda. It’s very clear."
Leavitt also expressed her shock over a statistic she came across that morning.
"In February alone, there were 15 injunctions against this administration's agenda. In three years under the Biden administration, there were only 14," she said. "It’s clear there are judicial activists across the system trying to block this president’s executive authority."
"We will fight back," Leavitt continued. "Anyone who saw President Trump and his legal team pushing back knows they know how to do it. He was indicted nearly 200 times and is now in the Oval Office because all of those indictments, all of these injunctions, have been unconstitutional and unfair. They're led by partisan activists trying to overturn the will of the president—and we won’t stand for it."
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