Judge blocks Trump from axing 2,200 workers at the United States Agency for International Development - just hours before it was due to go ahead

Administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda,

the judge said

The government does this across the board every day,

Shumate said

Karla GilbrideeEOC general counsel

This is a full-scale gutting of virtually all the personnel of an entire agency,

Karla Gilbride, the attorney for the employee associations, told the judge

The president has decided there is corruption and fraud at USAID,

Shumate said

Karla GilbrideeEOC general counsel

The major reduction in force, as well as the closure of offices, the forced relocation of these individuals were all done in excess of the executive’s authority in violation of the separation of powers,

Karla Gilbride, a lawyer for the unions, said at the hearing

When the president exercises his Article II power … he doesn’t have to show cause,

Shumate said, referring to the section of the Constitution that grants powers to the president

The dismantling of USAID including its Foreign Service members has thrown dedicated public servants—and their families—into chaos and uncertainty,

AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi stated Thursday

Not when it comes to fraud. If there's fraud, these people are lunatics,

Trump told CNN about his capacity to make changes to USAID

Not a single one of defendants' actions to dismantle USAID were taken pursuant to congressional authorization,

the lawsuit said

The agency's collapse has had disastrous humanitarian consequences,

Thursday's lawsuit said, including shutting down efforts to fight malaria and HIV

Our government is attacking us. This is worse than any dictatorship where I’ve worked.”

Gawand

The humanitarian consequences of defendants’ actions have already been catastrophic,

the plaintiffs said

We already see the shutdown’s cost, ... Kids with drug-resistant TB, turned away from clinics, are not just dying – they’re spreading the disease. People around the world [with] HIV, denied their medicine, will soon start transmitting virus. The damage is global.”

Atul Gawande, a surgeon who led global health programs for USAid wrote on X

I am not surprised that the attacks are being cheered by Moscow and Beijing,

Power wrote