Federal Managers Association

In the News

• Trump admin. tells judge it can fire at least some career feds at any time for any reason - July 17, 2025

• By Eric Katz, Government Executive

  The Trump administration is formally arguing before a federal oversight body that it has unilateral authority to fire many federal employees at any time, seeking to unwind decades of precedent and current federal law.
  
  President Trump can fire employees at will and without cause by the powers vested to him in the Constitution, Justice Department attorneys told an administrative judge within the Merit Systems Protection Board, the quasi-judicial agency that hears appeals of personnel actions from federal employees. Federal workers are typically not considered at-will and current statute requires that agencies provide notice, cause and an opportunity to rebut allegations before a firing can take place.
  
  Justice has taken an aggressive approach in dismissing career staff, beginning just hours after Trump took the oath of office in January when it fired personnel in the Executive Office of Immigration Review and elsewhere. It has continued to remove employees, including both Senior Executive Service staff and standard civil servants, without cause, such as in March when it fired the department’s top pardon attorney, Liz Oyer.

  To read the full article, click here.

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