WA joins lawsuit over Trump’s ‘illegal’ federal firings, Attorney General announces
Attorney General Nick Brown on Wednesday announced that Washington state has joined a lawsuit over the “illegal” federal worker firings carried out by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The lawsuit takes aim at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and other federal agencies regarding the en-masse terminations of federal employees, says a March 5 news release about the lawsuit. Brown’s office contends that Trump has “engaged in an all-out assault on public service” in his second term, with thousands of arbitrary firings.
Some affected employees have stellar performance records, the release notes. Others, including those who were recently promoted, have years and decades of federal service.
“President Trump’s illegal firings of federal employees will make it harder on our state to keep the lights on, contain wildfires, manage salmon and support vets,” Brown said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “We joined a coalition of affected groups to file a lawsuit against the federal government for its destructive actions.”
The White House contends that Trump was reelected with a mandate to shepherd in “unprecedented change in our federal government to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse.”
“This isn’t easy to do in a broken system entrenched in bureaucracy and bloat, but it’s a task long overdue,” Harrison Fields, White House principal deputy press secretary, said via email. “The personal financial situation of every American is top of mind for the President, which is why he’s working to cut regulations, reshore jobs, lower taxes, and make government more efficient.”
Washington is home to some 76,000 federal employees. At least 1,000 in the state have lost their jobs because of the ongoing federal firing spree, according to the AG’s office.
The state says there are 12 million acres of federal land managed by agencies affected by such cuts. The federal actions harm Washingtonians by jeopardizing the “reliability of the state’s energy supply, wildfire and forest management, services to veterans, and supports for small businesses,” the news release contends.
“Many of the president’s power grabs have this problem in common — they’re illegal,” Brown said in a statement. “These firings don’t save the public a dime, but they do make government less responsive, particularly in the communities across the nation where these employees live and serve.”
The suit was originally filed in North Carolina on behalf of a labor coalition and other affected organizations. A judge issued a temporary restraining order last week declaring the administration’s moves were likely illegal. The order also tells the Office of Personnel Management to walk back its instruction that agencies fire nearly all probationary employees.
Washington has led or participated in several other lawsuits related to Trump, including ones challenging the administration’s efforts to undo birthright citizenship and the power afforded X owner Elon Musk and the new federal Department of Government Efficiency.
This story was originally published March 5, 2025 at 11:38 AM.
.jpg)