Supreme Court clears way for mass layoffs at State Department

10 Jul 2025 22:07

The Supreme Court’s decision, issued in an 8–1 vote, permits agencies to begin implementing the executive order immediately, despite ongoing legal challenges regarding the constitutionality of the layoffs.

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FILE - The Harry S. Truman Building, headquarters for the State Department, is seen in Washington, March 9, 2009. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The US State Department is preparing for sweeping layoffs after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to move forward with a large-scale reorganization of the federal workforce. The ruling overturned a lower court injunction that had previously blocked the implementation of a February executive order authorizing broad staffing reductions across more than 20 federal agencies.

According to Semafor, layoffs at the State Department could begin as early as Friday, though the exact timeline remains unclear. The reorganization plan, introduced in May by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calls for a 15% cut in the department’s domestic workforce, approximately 3,400 positions. These planned reductions are part of a broader federal downsizing initiative coordinated by the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a Trump-backed body previously overseen by Elon Musk and tasked with executing the administration’s cost-cutting agenda.

The Supreme Court’s decision, issued in an 8–1 vote, permits agencies to begin implementing the executive order immediately, despite ongoing legal challenges regarding the constitutionality of the layoffs. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter, warning in her opinion that "President Donald Trump is unleashing a ‘wrecking ball’ on the federal government."

Critics of the decision say it could severely damage US diplomatic readiness and foreign policy execution at a time of mounting international crises. In an open letter, more than 130 former diplomats and national security officials, including former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, warned that the cuts would "cripple the department’s ability to respond to foreign policy crises."

Inside the State Department, morale has reportedly plummeted. Employees are facing mounting workloads, rising anxiety, and requests to volunteer for duties outside their current roles, all while fearing for their jobs. Unions and federal employee associations have condemned the move as reckless, accusing the administration of dismantling institutional knowledge and bypassing Congressional oversight.

Bureaucratic purge

The layoffs at the State Department are part of a larger federal reorganization already underway. According to Politico, more than 275,000 positions have been targeted across agencies such as the Department of Defense, the IRS, EPA, and the Social Security Administration. Early phases of the plan have reportedly included the termination of over 20,000 probationary employees.

The executive order, signed in February, instructs all agency heads to coordinate with DOGE in executing "reductions in force" (RIFs) aimed at downsizing non-essential functions and improving what the administration describes as "government efficiency." However, federal unions warn that the mass terminations are politically motivated and violate constitutional protections.

While the State Department has yet to issue a formal statement, the Supreme Court ruling signals a decisive moment in President Trump’s effort to reshape the federal bureaucracy. Whether future legal challenges will reverse or limit the damage remains to be seen. In the meantime, career civil servants across Washington are bracing for what may be the largest workforce upheaval in a generation.