Constitutional law attorney and Fox News contributor Jonathan Turley was left bewildered after a federal judge extended a temporary restraining order Monday blocking the Trump administration’s buyout offer to federal employees. Turley told “Fox & Friends,” Tuesday, that the offer is “perfectly within the wheelhouse of the president.”
TRUMP ADMIN FILES MOTION TO VACATE RESTRAINING ORDER PROHIBITING DOGE ACCESS TO TREASURY PAYMENT SYSTEMS
JONATHAN TURLEY: I think that Trump is on very solid ground with the buyout. I’m still a bit baffled by what the court is doing here. If the presidents are allowed to dictate conditions of employees coming into the office, what they’re working on, all of that is part of Article II powers of the president controlling the executive branch. I’m not, even today, certain what the constitutional problem is. You’ve got 65,000 employees who were told, look, we’ll let you stay at home and look for a job as long as you agree to resign and to give a number of months. They’ve agreed to it, the government’s agreed to it. That seems to me to be perfectly within the wheelhouse of the president. So I think he’s going to win on that.
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Congress can make decisions, they’re the ones who buy ships, but it is the president that decides who’s going to take the ship out and the crew. He can reduce the number of crew members. And so, there are different aspects of authority here. I think that the court is really intruding significantly in the president’s authority. He’s allowed to downsize, and they’re allowed due process. They’re allowed employment protections, but they’re not allowed to permanent employment.
The judge’s order comes nearly two weeks after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) emailed more than 2 million federal civilian employees offering them buyouts to leave their jobs.
Government workers were given a choice to either leave or stay after President Donald Trump mandated those employees to return to their offices.
The legal group Democracy Forward sued on behalf of labor unions representing thousands of employees, claiming the administration can’t administer payments. In a letter to its members, the AFGE noted that the buyout offer doesn’t guarantee that the employee’s resignation will be accepted or that the benefits will be paid.
They also said the buyout offer is “arbitrary and capricious” and “violates federal law.” The unions allege the administration cannot guarantee the plan will be funded and has failed to consider the consequences of mass resignations, including how it may affect the government’s ability to function.
Around 65,000 federal employees have reportedly accepted the offer.
Judge George O’Toole said he’s taken the matter under advisement, but there was no timeline on when he would make a decision.
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Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
