Updated February 08, 2025 at 11:28 AM ET
A federal judge paused the Trump administration's efforts to drastically scale back the U.S. Agency for International Development, temporarily halting plans to put 2,200 employees on leave by midnight on Friday.
Shortly before those plans were set to take effect, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, issued a limited temporary restraining order blocking the government from putting USAID employees on leave and reinstating 500 staffers who had already been placed on administrative leave. The order also paused a directive recalling overseas USAID employees to the U.S.
The restraining order is in effect until next Friday, Feb. 14 at 11:59pm. Judge Nichols scheduled a hearing on Feb. 12.
A State Department spokesperson said the department doesn't comment on pending or ongoing litigation matters. The White House didn't respond to a request for comment.
The case brought by the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees, which represent foreign service officers and other USAID employees, is intended to halt the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the agency and freeze most foreign aid.
The unions filed for a temporary restraining order on Friday, asking the court to block the agency from putting workers on leave, laying off contractors and "taking further actions to shut down USAID's operations in a manner not authorized by Congress."
The lawsuit accuses Trump of taking "unconstitutional and illegal" actions in trying to shut down the agency, which was created by Congress in 1961.
In his Friday night order, Judge Nichols said the unions had "adequately demonstrated" that their members faced "irreparable injury" from being placed on leave. He pointed to their argument that many USAID staffers work in high-risk places and would lose access to email, payment, and internal security warning systems if put on leave.
"No future lawsuit could undo the physical harm that might result if USAID employees are not informed of imminent security threats occurring in the countries to which they have relocated in the course of their service to the United States," he wrote. "Administrative leave in Syria is not the same as administrative leave in Bethesda: simply being paid cannot change that fact."
The judge did not extend the temporary restraining order to the hold the Trump administration put on funding to USAID contractors on Jan. 24. He said the unions had not demonstrated the freeze would cause irreparable harm to USAID staff.
Since the inauguration, the Trump administration has taken steps, almost at dizzying speed, aimed at shutting down the agency, which has a workforce of more than 13,000 people and which funds, manages and supports humanitarian projects in more than 120 countries.
The administration halted funding for aid programs, laid off hundreds of contractors, shuttered offices, and announced it would put nearly all staff on administrative leave by Friday at midnight and terminate contractors not deemed essential. The agency announced this week overseas employees should return to the U.S. within 30 days if they wanted the government to cover their travel expenses.
Senior USAID staff had submitted a list of some 600 employees whose work should be considered essential, but on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio approved fewer than 300 agency staff to continue working.
Earlier on Friday, crews were seen taking down the USAID flag and building signage from its headquarters in Washington, D.C.
During a hearing ion Friday about unions' temporary restraining order request, Acting Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate attempted to convince Judge Nichols of the urgency of putting USAID staff on administrative leave en masse as well as pulling back overseas staff.
"What's the urgency of doing it tonight?" Judge Nichols asked. Shumate replied: "the President has decided there is corruption and fraud at USAID." Shumate did not provide evidence.
Since President Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, the Trump administration and Trump adviser Elon Musk have attacked USAID and argued that the projects it funds do not align with the president's America First foreign policy agenda.
On Friday, before the hearing, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: "CLOSE IT DOWN!"
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