Judge calls emergency hearing on DOGE amid continued firing spree, rehiring of nuclear weapons workers

Last week, the Trump administration continued its federal firing spree. After recommendations from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the administration reportedly fired more than 300 of National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) workers, then quickly rehired most of them, according to the AP. The chain of events prompted immediate concerns over national security.Pantex Plant, the primary nuclear weapons facility in the United States, in Carson County, Texas, was the target of 30% of the cuts. However, by Friday evening, Teresa Robbins, the acting administrator of NNSA, reportedly issued a memo rescinding the firings. All but 28 of the employees who were dismissed were told they had their jobs back. “This letter serves as formal notification that the termination decision issued to you on February 13, 2025, has been rescinded, effective immediately,” said the memo, which was obtained by the Associated Press.Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the AP the firings are disruptive to the organization as a whole, as well as the security of the country. “I think the signal to U.S. adversaries is pretty clear: throw a monkey wrench in the whole national security apparatus and cause disarray,” he said. “That can only benefit the adversaries of this country.”The NNSA firings were only a fraction of the federal cuts made last week. On Friday, 9,500 federal workers were let go, in addition to the 75,000 who have already taken Trump’s buyout deal. But some say, DOGE is only cutting organizations it isn’t politically aligned with—targeting public health and the environment.For example, the U.S. Forest Service fired around 3,400 recent hires, the National Park Service laid off about 1,000 employees, as well as nearly half of the probationary workers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and others at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). “They are not going to go into agencies that are doing things they like. They are going into agencies they disagree with,” Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Republican director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), told Reuters. There were also job cuts reported at the FDA and the FAA.There have been at least 73 lawsuits filed over Trump’s executive orders since he took office. And on Monday, a national holiday, a federal judge has called an emergency hearing to address DOGE’s recent firings. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will hear arguments from 14 states in order to decide whether to issue a temporary restraining order against DOGE.Last week, the courts blocked a number of DOGE’s efforts, temporarily barring the organization from accessing sensitive Treasury Department information and payment systems and disallowing the government from blocking federal funding due to a health agency providing gender-affirming services to minors.Over the weekend, Trump pushed back on efforts to block the administration’s efforts to overhaul government spending in a post on social media. “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” the president wrote.The sentiment mimics a quote often attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte. In the 1970 film Waterloo, Napoleon states, he did not “usurp the crown” but “found it in the gutter” and “picked it up with my sword.” The quote continues, “and it was the people . . . who put it on my head. He who saves a nation violates no law.”