Trump at US Supreme Court challenges judge's federal worker rehiring order

(Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration brought its bid to purge the federal workforce to the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, challenging a judicial directive to rehire thousands of fired government employees.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to block a March 13 order by San Francisco-based U.S. District Judge William Alsup for six federal agencies to reinstate thousands of probationary - meaning recently hired - employees dismissed as part of Trump's campaign to downsize and reshape the government.

The judge faulted the administration for improperly terminating en masse the probationary workers and cast doubt on the justification presented by the government that the firings were the result of poor employee performance.

Probationary workers typically have less than one year of service in their current roles, though some are longtime federal employees serving in new roles. They have fewer job protections than other government workers, but in general can be fired only for poor job performance.

The actions by the judge represented a significant blow for a high-profile effort by Trump and billionaire advisor Elon Musk to drastically shrink the federal bureaucracy.

Alsup's ruling applied to probationary employees at the U.S. Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, Department of Interior and the Treasury Department.



(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham)