Judge says Trump's mass-probationary firings were illegal, but he won't order re

The Trump administration acted illegally in firing roughly 25,000 newly hired and promoted federal employees, a federal court ruled in a final decision issued on Friday. Agencies will not be required to re-hire the people they fired illegally, but must send them a letter saying they were not fired for performance reasons.

In the ruling, U.S. District Judge William Alsup said the firings were illegally directed by the Office of Personnel Management, rejecting the administration’s argument that each agency acted on its own. Alsup's ruling comes months after the Supreme Court knocked down his previous preliminary injunction on the firings. In his final decision, the judge said the SCOTUS decision was nebulous and did not prevent his final order.

Alsup castigated the Trump administratio