With the federal government shutdown hitting the two-week mark, a federal judge in San Francisco will weigh whether to temporarily halt the latest wave of layoffs by the Trump administration.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston will hear preliminary arguments on Wednesday in a case brought by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), which together represent more than 800,000 federal workers.

The unions have asked the court to pause the implementation of layoffs already underway and stop any additional layoff notices from being sent out.

"It's an illegal abuse of power designed to punish patriotic civil servants and put pressure on Congress," AFGE president Everett Kelley said in an interview with

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