In a win for President Donald Trump on Tuesday, the Supreme Court in a 7-2 decision blocked the effort of U.S. Judge William Alsup to force the Trump administration to rehire thousands of fired workers in numerous federal agencies.
On March 13, Alsup, a San Francisco judge appointed by former President Bill Clinton, had ruled on a lawsuit brought by federal employee unions that federal agencies had to rehire more than 16,000 probationary employees fired by the Trump administration’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM). He ordered OPM and the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Energy, Interior, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs to bring back employees immediately.
Calling the fact that the Trump administration attributed the firings to “performance,” Alsup<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/13/fired-federal-probationary-employees-court-ruling-00228721" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> called</a> that a “gimmick,” adding, “It is sad, a sad day when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie. &#8230; The words that I give you today should not be taken that some wild-and-crazy judge in San Francisco said that an administration cannot engage in a reduction in force. It can be done, if it’s done in accordance with the law.”
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for a stay of Alsup’s order, which was granted. “The district court’s extraordinarily overbroad remedy is now inflicting ongoing, irreparable harm on the Executive Branch that warrants this Court’s urgent intervention,” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris told the court.
“The District Court’s injunction was based solely on the allegations of the nine non-profit-organization plaintiffs in this case. But under established law, those allegations are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” the Supreme Court <a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25888805/24a904-order.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a>.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
“The full implications of the ruling are not clear given that a federal judge in Maryland earlier this month issued a preliminary injunction that reinstated some of the employees not covered in the case before the Supreme Court,” CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/08/politics/probationary-fired-employees-supreme-court-trump/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>.
<p style="font-weight: 400;" data-uri="cms.cnn.com/_components/paragraph/instances/cm98p7u660006356obqvmvacy@published" data-editable="text" data-component-name="paragraph" data-article-gutter="true" data-analytics-observe="on">“Although the court put Alsup’s order on hold, a different federal judge in Maryland also has issued an order, which remains in effect for now, that requires the reinstatement of probationary employees at 20 federal agencies who live and work in the 19 states (along with the District of Columbia) that brought the case,” ScotusBlog <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/04/justices-pause-order-to-reinstate-fired-federal-employees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">explained</a>.

President Trump Holds “Make America Wealthy Again Event” In White House Rose Garden

SCOTUS Gives Trump Another Win, Blocks Rehiring Of Fired Federal Employees

Courts

Donald Trump

Firings

Office of Personnel Management

Politics

SCOTUS

Supreme Court

Death by firing squad and electric chair execution violate the South Carolina Constitution, a state judge <a class="editor-rtfLink" href="https://publicindex.sccourts.org/Richland/PublicIndex/PIImageDisplay.aspx?ctagency=40002&amp;doctype=D&amp;docid=1662496626801-246&amp;HKey=905471478050481171159067977773103567010647576711157475798478911310210112179659850113994799827852" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ruled</a> Tuesday.
Circuit Court Judge Jocelyn Newman ruled that the style of executions inflicted cruel and unusual punishment, which nullified a state law passed last year that forced death row inmates to pick one of the two methods, with electrocution as the default procedure.
&#8220;In 2021, South Carolina turned back the clock and became the only state in the country in which a person may be forced into the electric chair if he refuses to elect how he will die,&#8221; Newman wrote. &#8220;In doing so, the General Assembly ignored advances in scientific research and evolving standards of humanity and decency.&#8221;
The 39-page opinion comes after four death row inmates sued the South Carolina Department of Corrections, the department&#8217;s director Bryan Stirling, and Governor Henry McMaster over the execution methods. The plaintiffs, all convicted of at least one murder and sentenced to death between 1997 and 2002, claim that the state&#8217;s procedures for terminating death row inmates are unconstitutional.
Inmates further noted that the state law officials restarted last year was &#8220;retroactive&#8221; and violated their due process rights, which rendered their right to decide between the execution methods.
Newman concluded her opinion after listening to medical experts during a four-day trial last month at the Richland County courthouse. The judge noted that such execution methods don&#8217;t provide enough scientific evidence to result in instant death or cause an inmate to experience pain for up to 15 seconds if the methods are botched.
The judge called high-voltage deaths unconstitutional due to the lack of evidence that it terminates a life instantly.
During electrocution, inmates are first shocked with 2,000 volts using copper electrodes attached to the right leg and head, which allows the current to run through the inmate for 4.5 seconds. Then, authorities pump another two electric currents of 1,000 volts for eight seconds and 120 volts for two minutes into the inmate&#8217;s body.
Newman said the experience could cause &#8220;intolerable pain and suffering from electrical burns, thermal heating, oxygen deprivation, muscle tetany, and the experience of high-voltage electrocution.&#8221;
South Carolina has used the same wooden chair with leather straps to execute 284 inmates since 1912. The state began using lethal injection in 1995.
Concerning firing squads, Newman said that the method reverts the state to a &#8220;historic method of execution that has never been used&#8221; in South Carolina or most other states in the Union. Newman detailed in her opinion why the firing squad style of execution poses an unusual punishment.
Authorities strap hooded inmates to a backless metal chair until they are completely restrained. Then, a physician places an &#8220;aiming point&#8221; over the inmate&#8217;s heart where a three-member team armed with rifles containing .308 Winchester 110-grain TAP urban ammunition fires up to three volleys of bullets from 15 feet away.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/09/07/south-carolina-firing-squad-electric-chair/">reports</a> that electrocution is allowed as an alternative in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Tennessee; inmates can select it in Florida and Kentucky. While Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Utah are the only other states that allow execution by firing squad.
While attorneys for the death row inmates applauded the results and would further review the court order, Newman said the defendants would likely appeal the decision.
The State <a href="https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article264724319.html">reports</a> that Chrysti Shain, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, said Tuesday they would &#8220;assess the order and determine the next step.&#8221;
Governor Henry McMaster told reporters Wednesday his office plans to appeal Newman&#8217;s ruling.
&#8220;There have been a lot of cases in the U.S. Supreme Court as well — it&#8217;s been explained by the justices a number of times,&#8221; McMaster said. &#8220;The question is not the method but the procedure to get to the method.&#8221;
“Our Legislature and others have done a good job in fashioning the best we can do for these sentences,&#8221; he added. &#8220;I think that our South Carolina law is constitutional.”

Electric chair in the dark room, 3D rendering

Electric Chair, Firing Squad Executions Ruled Unconstitutional In South Carolina

Constitution

Death Penalty

Death Row

South Carolina

The hits just keep coming for Better.com CEO Vishal Garg, who earlier this month fired 900 employees during a short Zoom call. Garg is currently taking a leave of absence while an outside investigator looks into the matter.
It now looks like Garg tried to ensure the fired employees only received one week of severance pay following his sudden announcement, Business Insider <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ceo-vishal-garg-laid-off-employees-one-week-severance-2021-12">reported</a>. Two people with direct knowledge of the meetings told the outlet that Garg tried to make sure the fired employees only received one or two weeks of severance pay even though the company gave no indication the firings were coming.
“The people — current and former employees — also told Insider that other executives pushed for periods of two months or 10 weeks, and that several even walked out of the discussion over the small size of Garg&#8217;s proposed package,” the outlet reported. “Garg relented somewhat, offering employees four weeks of severance at the time of the layoffs, but that number was later <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/better-ups-severance-for-laid-off-workers-as-class-action-lawsuits-loom-2021-12">increased to 60 days</a> after lawyers threatened to sue the company for violating US law concerning advance notice for ‘mass layoffs.’&#8221;
“One of the sources told Insider that Garg was aware that his actions potentially violated the WARN Act, which requires 60 days&#8217; notice or pay before conducting large-scale layoffs,” the outlet continued.
The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/mortgage-company-ceo-fires-900-employees-via-zoom-including-diversity-hiring-team">reported</a> earlier this month that Garg called a Zoom meeting to fire the employees.
“If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,” Garg said during the meeting. “Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.”
He also told the employees that they would be receiving an email from the human resources department detailing their benefits and severance.
Garg then told the people on the call that market efficiency, performance, and productivity were the reasons they were being fired. Fortune <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/12/03/better-com-ceo-attacks-laid-off-employees-blind-message-board/">reported</a> that days after the firing, Garg “posted a series of messages seen by Fortune on an anonymous professional network,” in which he accused the fired employees of “stealing” from coworkers and customers due to their unproductivity. The outlet reported that he claimed at least some of those who were fired had only worked two hours a day.
CNN <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/05/business/better-ceo-fires-employees/index.html?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=news_tab">reported</a> that the call firing the employees was “short and emotionless.”
“This is the second time in my career I’m doing this and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it, I cried,” Garg said during the call, apparently showing no emotion.
The outlet also reported that the diversity, equity, and inclusion recruiting team was among the fired employees, a rarity for companies these days, who often hire more and more people to improve diversity, with little to no discernible effect.
Garg apologized for the mass firing days later, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/i-blundered-the-execution-better-com-ceo-apologizes-for-mass-firing-on-zoom">reported</a>.
“I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week,” Garg wrote in a <a href="https://cdn.brandfolder.io/A8SA0YBW/at/ggkbfpsbjbvc335cprpv33bg/A_Message_From_Our_Founder___CEO.pdf">letter</a>. “I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better.”
“I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you,” he continued. “I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be.”

Business fail for work concept.

Better.Com CEO Who Fired 900 Employees Just Before Christmas Only Wanted To Give Them One Week Severance Pay

More than 900 employees of mortgage company Better.com were invited to a Zoom webinar last Wednesday, where CEO Vishal Garg announced they would all be fired effective immediately.
CNN Business <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/05/business/better-ceo-fires-employees/index.html?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=news_tab">reviewed</a> a recording of the call, in which the employees were fired just weeks before the holidays.
&#8220;If you&#8217;re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group that is being laid off,&#8221; Garg said during the meeting. &#8220;Your employment here is terminated effective immediately.&#8221;
He also told the employees that they would be receiving an email from the human resources department detailing their benefits and severance.
Garg then told the people on the call that market efficiency, performance, and productivity were the reasons they were being fired. Fortune <a href="https://fortune.com/2021/12/03/better-com-ceo-attacks-laid-off-employees-blind-message-board/">reported</a> that days after the firing, Garg “posted a series of messages seen by Fortune on an anonymous professional network,” in which he accused the fired employees of “stealing” from coworkers and customers due to their unproductivity. The outlet reported that he claimed at least some of those who were fired had only worked two hours a day.
CNN reported that the call firing the employees was “short and emotionless.”
&#8220;This is the second time in my career I&#8217;m doing this and I do not want to do this. The last time I did it, I cried,&#8221; Garg said during the call, apparently showing no emotion.
The outlet also reported that the diversity, equity, and inclusion recruiting team was among the fired employees, a rarity for companies these days, who often hire more and more people to improve diversity, with little to no discernible effect.
Better CFO Kevin Ryan told CNN that “Having to conduct layoffs is gut wrenching, especially this time of year.”
&#8220;However, a fortress balance sheet and a reduced and focused workforce together set us up to play offense going into a radically evolving homeownership market,&#8221; he added.
CNN reported that Garg’s leadership has been questioned before:
<blockquote>Garg has been involved in controversy before, as evidenced by an <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidjeans/2020/11/20/mortgages-fraud-claims-and-dumb-dolphins-a-tangled-past-haunts-bettercom-ceo-vishal-garg/?sh=12a22d7e10f4">email he sent to staff</a> that was obtained by Forbes.
&#8220;You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS&#8230; SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME,&#8221; he wrote.
The Daily Beast reported in August that one of Garg&#8217;s most &#8220;loyal lieutenants&#8221; received <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/bettercom-ceo-vishal-garg-threatened-to-burn-his-business-partner-alive-now-hes-a-billionaire">massive perks</a>, such as millions of dollars worth of stock options that could be vested immediately, not comparable to other employees. That person was later placed on administrative leave for bullying.</blockquote>
Forbes reported in November 2020 that “Ongoing lawsuits accuse Garg or entities he controls of improper and even fraudulent activity at two prior business ventures, and of misappropriating ‘tens of millions of dollars.’”
Goldman Sachs, which invested in three rounds of funding for Better, accused Garg of “flagrant self-dealing,” but quietly dropped its legal claims in October 2020.
The recent layoffs amount to 9% of Better.com’s workforce.

Midsection Of Businessman Carrying Cardboard Box

Mortgage Company CEO Fires 900 Employees Via Zoom, Including Diversity Hiring Team

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Speaking in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, on Thursday, President Biden made clear what his priorities are, arguing that the “bigger story” isn&#8217;t “headlines and reports of mass firings,” but instead that the mandates for large businesses to vaccinate their workers are having some success.
Biden stated:
<blockquote>These requirements work. And as a business round table and others told me when I announced the first requirement that encouraged businesses to feel they could come in and demand the same thing of their employees, more people are getting vaccinated. More lives are being saved. Let’s be clear: When you see headlines and reports of mass firings, and hundreds of people losing their jobs, look at the bigger story. I’ve spoken with Scott Kirby, CEO of United Airlines, who’s here today. United went from 59% of their employees to 99% of their employees in less than two months after implementing the requirement. 99%.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Biden: &quot;When you see headlines and reports of mass firings, and hundreds of people losing their jobs, look at the bigger story&#8230;United went from 59% of their employees [vaccinated] to 99%&#8230;&quot; <a href="https://t.co/pTDLmTtDDP">pic.twitter.com/pTDLmTtDDP</a>
&mdash; The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) <a href="https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1446217673688469509?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 7, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Meanwhile, on October 4 <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/575283-largest-new-york-healthcare-provider-fires-1400-employee-over-vaccine">The Hill</a> reported:
<blockquote>Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York state, on Monday fired 1,400 of its employees who did not comply with the state&#8217;s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. … These employees represented almost 2 percent of Northwell&#8217;s workforce of more than 76,000 who are all immunized against COVID-19.</blockquote>
The Seattle Police Department may have to fire hundreds of officers if they don’t meet an Oct. 18 vaccination deadline. “As of Oct. 6, <a style="font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit;" href="https://www.q13fox.com/news/seattle-police-over-350-sworn-personnel-have-not-submitted-proof-of-vaccination">292 sworn personnel had yet to provide proof of a COVID-19 vaccination</a>,” Fox 13 reported in an <a href="https://www.q13fox.com/news/seattle-police-department-braces-for-mass-firing-of-officers">article</a> titled, “Seattle Police Department braces for mass firing of officers as hundreds have yet to show proof of vaccination.”
<a href="https://news.yahoo.com/york-hospitals-face-possible-mass-144230376.html">Yahoo News</a> reported on September 25, “New York Hospitals Face Possible Mass Firings as Workers Spurn Vaccines,” adding, “In Buffalo, the Erie County Medical Center plans to suspend elective inpatient surgeries and not take intensive-care patients from other hospitals because it may soon fire about 400 employees who have chosen not to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.”
The White House <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/covidplan/">declared</a> in September:
<blockquote>The Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is developing a rule that will require all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work. OSHA will issue an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to implement this requirement. This requirement will impact over 80 million workers in private sector businesses with 100+ employees.</blockquote>
An <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-lawless-vaccine-mandate-constitution-occupational-safety-11632841737">opinion piece</a> in The Wall Street Journal noted in late September:
<blockquote>The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 authorizes OSHA to enact rules that are “reasonably necessary or appropriate to provide safe or healthful employment and places of employment.” But the Biden mandate is unreasonably and unnecessarily broad. As announced, it applies to all employees, even those who work at home, as millions have done during the pandemic. It’s simultaneously too narrow, failing to require vaccination for contractors, customers and other nonemployees who may be present at the work site.</blockquote>

US-POLITICS-BIDEN

Biden Boasts ‘Bigger Story’ Isn’t ‘Mass Firings’ But Vaccine Mandates Working

Joe Biden