AG Brown, AG Ellison, and AG Schwalb led a coalition of 20 attorneys general to secure a preliminary injunction (PI) in Maryland et al. v. USDA, a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for Maryland suing numerous federal agencies for the unlawful mass firing of federal probationary employees. The PI protects federal probationary employees who live or work in the plaintiff states and orders 20 federal agencies to reinstate unlawfully terminated probationary employees while the court case continues. The PI also requires those agencies to follow lawful procedures in conducting any future reductions in force. 

“When the Trump Administration fired tens of thousands of federal probationary employees,they claimed it was due to poor work performance. We know better. This was a coordinatedeffort to eliminate the federal workforce – even if it meant breaking the law.These mass layoffs forced hardworking civil servants and their families into financial insecurity,a sudden and unexpected crisis that risked overwhelming our State’s ability to help theunemployed.I will not let the president threaten our communities or the livelihoods of Marylanders just so hecan fulfill his misguided goal of dismantling the federal government, in the name of governmentefficiency.This ruling ensures Maryland jobs and resources are safe while we continue this fight incourt.”- AG Brown