A U.S. federal judge has ruled against a government directive that led to widespread layoffs as part of a federal workforce reduction initiative linked to Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

The decision, issued Thursday, instructs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to retract orders sent to multiple agencies that resulted in thousands of employees losing their jobs.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup, presiding in San Francisco, stated that OPM had no legal authority to dictate hiring and firing decisions across federal agencies. "Congress has assigned hiring and dismissal powers to individual agencies, such as the Department of Defense, not OPM," he remarked, according to The Washington Post.

This ruling is the latest in a series of legal challenges to Trump’s administrative policies, following a recent block on his refugee ban and a suspension of his executive order revoking birthright citizenship.

The lawsuit was filed by labor unions and advocacy organizations who argued that the layoffs, primarily targeting probationary employees, were unlawful. In the federal system, workers in their first or second year remain on probation, even after receiving a promotion.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs accused OPM of orchestrating one of the most significant employment violations in U.S. history, asserting that the agency lacked the legal grounds to enforce mass dismissals. The court’s ruling now prevents further terminations under the disputed directive.