Judge Rules Trump Administration Broke Law In FEMA Workforce Cuts

According to CNBC, a U.S. judge ruled that the Trump administration broke the law by ordering the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cut its workforce in half. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco said the Department of Homeland Security unlawfully usurped FEMA's authority over its own personnel and directed the agency to cut thousands of disaster-response jobs. Illston said the department violated a federal law adopted after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when it moved last year to stop FEMA from renewing the temporary contracts of thousands of on-call reservists who respond to disasters. Friday's ruling did not include remedies or penalties. Illston said those issues would be addressed in a separate ruling next month, and the parties may submit briefings on the scope of relief she should provide to the unions. FEMA and DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Saturday. Democracy Forward, which represents the plaintiffs, praised the ruling. Skye Perryman, the group's president and CEO, said Congress created FEMA to operate independently because of its mission to prepare and respond quickly when disasters arise. Illston also said FEMA projected staffing for the upcoming fiscal year at 11,383 employees, or about half of prior levels, without any basis for choosing that number.