Washington — A federal appeals court on Monday rejected a lawsuit filed by a group of states that challenged the mass firings of thousands of federal probationary workers .

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit divided 2-1 in finding that the 19 states and the District of Columbia did not have legal standing to sue over the large-scale terminations. The appeals court sent the case back to the federal district court with directions to dismiss it.

"We acknowledge that the abrupt and indiscriminate dismissal of the probationary employees here exacted all-too-human costs upon those affected," Judge Harvie Wilkinson wrote for the two-judge majority. "But this real impact on the employees, who are not parties here, cannot govern our review."

Wilkinson wrote that while federa

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