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Judge Carl Nichols temporarily blocked plans to put 2,200 employees on paid leave and recall nearly all agency workers abroad. He also temporarily reinstated 500 workers already on leave.
A worker removes the name plate on the facade of the U.S.A.I.D. headquarters in Washington on Friday. Credit… Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images Published Feb. 7, 2025 Updated Feb. 8, 2025, 11:02 a.m. ET Follow today’s live coverage of the Trump administration .
A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt for now some elements of its attempt to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Judge Carl Nichols of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, a 2019 Trump appointee, issued a restraining order pausing the imminent administrative leave of 2,200 U.S.A.I.D. employees and a plan to withdraw nearly all of the agency’s overseas workers within 30 days. He also ordered the temporary reinstatement of 500 agency employees already on administrative leave.
The judge was ruling on a lawsuit filed on behalf of the largest union representing federal workers and the union that represents Foreign Service officers. Judge Nichols said the unions had established that the employees affected by the leave and withdrawal orders would suffer “irreparable harm.”
Judge Nichols ordered the pause in the administration’s plans through next Friday to allow for “expedited” arguments to determine the legality of the actions, and scheduled another hearing for Wednesday.
His order was the latest action by a court to slow or limit President Trump’s agenda, following rulings that blocked for now Mr. Trump’s moves to freeze federal spending and overturn birthright citizenship. The cases are part of a sprawling legal battle over Mr. Trump’s efforts to expand presidential authority in ways that Democrats and many legal experts call unconstitutional.
Democrats also fear that Mr. Trump’s sudden moves to gut U.S.A.I.D. — which have instilled a sense of chaos and panic within the agency — may serve as a test case for dramatically cutting or shutting down other federal departments and agencies.
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