A protester with a sign saying “Federal Employees Don’t Work for Kings” demonstrates in support of federal workers and against recent actions by President Trump and Elon Musk on Presidents Day in Washington, D.C. Jacquelyn Martin/AP/AP hide caption

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Jacquelyn Martin/AP/AP

A federal judge in San Francisco says the Trump administration likely broke the law by firing thousands of probationary employees — typically those in their first or second year in a job.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup ordered a partial halt to the firings after a hearing on Thursday afternoon. His order covers the Veterans Affairs Department, the National Parks Service, the Small Business Administration, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Science Foundation and other agencies whose firings impact the civic groups that sued the Trump administration.

The temporary restraining order came in response to a lawsuit filed by a coalition that also included labor unions. The coalition’s attorneys allege that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) unlawfully ordered agencies to carry out the firings.

“Statements from officials at multiple federal agencies admit that the agencies carried out the terminations not at their own discretion, but on the direct orders of OPM,” the attorneys wrote in a court filing.

Government says it asked, not ordered agencies to fire employees

In court, the government’s attorney argued that OPM had merely asked, not ordered, the agencies to fire probationary employees, drawing a distinction between the two.

But Alsup was unconvinced.

“How could so much of the workforce be amputated suddenly overnight? It’s so irregular and widespread, so aberrant in the history of the country,” he said from the bench. “I believe they were directed or ordered. That’s the way the evidence points.”

Alsup did find merit to the government’s argument that some of the plaintiffs — the labor unions — lacked standing to bring the case in federal court. Therefore, the relief he ordered does not cover every federal agency.

But he made clear he believes widespread relief may be warranted.

“I’m going to count on the government to do the right thing and go further than I have ordered and to let some of these agencies know what I have ruled,” he said.

Have information you want to share about ongoing changes across the federal government? NPR’s Andrea Hsu can be contacted through encrypted communications on Signal at andreahsu.08.