Two federal judges handed down orders requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to rehire thousands, if not tens of thousands, of probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies Thursday, slowing down for now the president’s dramatic downsizing of the federal government.

Both judges separately found legal problems with the way the mass terminations were carried out and ordered the employees at least temporarily brought back on the job.

The Trump administration has already appealed the first ruling. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt cast it as an attempt to encroach on the president’s power to hire and fire employees. “The Trump Administration will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,” she said in a statement.

Specific rulings

In San Francisco, U.S. District Judge William Alsup found Thursday morning that terminations across six agencies were directed by the Office of Personnel Management and an acting director, Charles Ezell, who lacked the authority to do so.

In Baltimore, U.S. District Judge James Bredar found that the administration did not follow laws set out for large-scale layoffs, including 60 days’ advance notice. Bredar, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, ordered the firings temporarily halted and the workforce returned to the status quo before the layoffs began.

He sided with nearly two dozen states, including Minnesota, that filed a lawsuit alleging the mass firings are illegal and already having an impact on state governments as they try to help the suddenly jobless.

At least 24,000 probationary employees have been terminated since Trump took office, the lawsuit alleges, though the government has not confirmed that number.

Alsup’s order stemmed from a lawsuit brought by federal employee unions that challenged the legality of how those agencies went about firing probationary workers en masse. The unions argued that those workers were swept up in a larger effort by Trump and his top adviser, Elon Musk, to arbitrarily ravage the federal government and demoralize its employees.

Alsup said he was convinced that federal agencies followed a directive from senior officials in the Office of Personnel Management to use a loophole allowing them to fire probationary workers by citing poor performance, regardless of their actual conduct on the job and despite receiving glowing evaluations just months earlier. He concluded that the government’s actions were a “gimmick” intended to expeditiously carry out mass firings.

“It is a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” he said.

“It was a sham in order to try to avoid statutory requirements,” he added.

White House argument

The Trump administration argues that the states have no right to try and influence the federal government’s relationship with its own workers. Justice Department attorneys argued the firings were for performance issues, not large-scale layoffs subject to specific regulations.

The White House did not return an email seeking comment on Bredar’s ruling.

Lawyers for the government maintain the mass firings were lawful because individual agencies reviewed and determined whether employees on probation were fit for continued employment.

But Alsup, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, has found that difficult to believe. He planned to hold an evidentiary hearing Thursday, but Ezell, the OPM acting director, did not appear to testify in court or even sit for a deposition, and the government retracted his written testimony.

Probationary workers have been targeted for layoffs across the federal government because they’re usually new to the job and lack full civil service protection. Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the mass firings.

Alsup’s order tells the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Interior and the Treasury to immediately offer job reinstatement to employees terminated on or about Feb. 13 and 14. He also directed the departments to report back within seven days with a list of probationary employees and an explanation of how the agencies complied with his order as to each person.

Outrunning the courts

As the Trump administration continues to contest the judge’s order, a substantial portion of the hearing Thursday also focused on the ways the government has moved to circumvent the courts and sideline workers by any means available.

In other cases focused on the administration’s suspension of federal contracts and grants, judges have similarly fretted that agencies have forged ahead to terminate those programs faster than courts could order the funding unfrozen.

Danielle Leonard, a lawyer representing the unions, said that even after an independent agency that protects government workers in employment disputes ordered the Agriculture Department to reinstate 6,000 probationary workers this month, the agency had kept many on paid leave, restoring their salaries but not their jobs.

“We do not believe that they are going to return any of these employees to actual service,” she said.

In a statement Tuesday, the Agriculture Department said it was working on a “phased plan for return to duty” for those workers.

“These mass-firings of federal workers were not just an attack on government agencies and their ability to function, they were also a direct assault on public lands, wildlife, and the rule of law,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, one of the plaintiffs.

Arguments in court

Alsup also expressed frustration with what he called the government’s attempt to sidestep laws and regulations governing a reduction in its workforce — which it is allowed to do — by firing probationary workers who lack protections and cannot appeal.

Alsup had originally planned to have Trump administration officials appear to testify Thursday about the process. But the government made clear Wednesday that Ezell would not appear.

“I know how we get at the truth, and you’re not helping me get at the truth,” Alsup said to Kelsey Helland, an assistant U.S. attorney.

Helland said the government had submitted ample evidence that agencies were acting on their own and were never beholden to orders from Ezell.

Helland added that it was not unusual for the Trump administration to try to shield its top officials from appearing in court.

“Every presidential administration in modern history has jealously guarded their agency heads against being forced to give testimony,” he said.

But Alsup grew increasingly riled by those explanations, saying he felt “misled by the U.S. government.”

There are an estimated 200,000 probationary workers across federal agencies. They include entry-level employees but also workers who recently received a promotion.

The plaintiffs said in their complaint that numerous agencies informed workers that the personnel office had ordered the terminations, with an order to use a template email informing workers their firing was for performance reasons.

This report includes information from the New York Times.