A federal appeals court has granted temporary approval for President Trump to revoke collective bargaining rights for employees at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, ruling that the law provides the White House with broad discretion.
The decision, issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, puts on hold a lower court ruling that had declared Trump’s action unlawful. The lower court had asserted that judicial review of presidential determinations was warranted and found Trump’s justification insufficient.
In an unsigned order, the appellate judges stated that the lower court’s decision was likely incorrect, emphasizing that the law grants the president “broad authority” to exclude federal employees from collective bargaining on national security grounds.
The court noted that the Secretary of State is a member of the National Security Council and that the department’s mission centers on U.S. security, meaning the president’s national security determinations take precedence in this matter.
The court issued a stay on a ruling by Judge Paul Friedman, a Clinton appointee, allowing the employees’ collective bargaining rights to be suspended while the case continues in lower courts. “When a statutory delegation invokes the president’s discretion in exercising core Article II responsibilities, there is little for a court to review,” the three-judge circuit panel said.
Although the panel addressed the core issues regarding presidential authority, its decision is not the final ruling on the matter, as the union declared it would continue the legal fight. “The court’s decision to stay our preliminary injunction is a blow — not just to AFSA, but to more than 50 years of work defending the rights of America’s career diplomats and upholding transparency and due process in government,” said Tom Yazdgerdi, AFSA’s president.
Trump’s executive order issued on March 27 identified dozens of federal agencies and divisions that he determined had national security connections and subsequently excluded them from collective bargaining. The list included entities such as the Federal Communications Commission, the National Science Foundation, and the Departments of Treasury, Justice, and Veterans Affairs.
At the top of the list was the State Department. The order has faced multiple legal challenges, including the case before the appeals court brought by the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA).
AFSA argued that the executive order amounted to political retaliation against its members, who had opposed the president’s plans to reduce funding for USAID and certain State Department activities, viewing those plans as contrary to his policy.
