Editorial illustration
Another unelected judge has decided they run the executive branch. According to court documents from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a Biden-appointed federal judge just blocked the Trump administration from enforcing return-to-office requirements for Pentagon employees and every other federal worker across the government. Judge William Alsup, as detailed in his preliminary injunction ruling from the U.S. District Court, issued an order claiming the administration couldn’t force civilian Defense Department employees back to their desks. But he didn’t stop there; the ruling extends government-wide, preventing the Office of Personnel Management from directing agencies to recall remote workers to their posts, as reported by Breitbart News.
Think about what this means. According to Trump administration statements, the President of the United States, constitutionally charged with running the executive branch, can’t tell his own employees to show up for work. As outlined in White House policy announcements, the administration had been pushing to end the pandemic-era work-from-home arrangements that have become permanent fixtures for thousands of federal employees. And taxpayers have been footing the bill for empty office buildings while bureaucrats collect full salaries from their kitchen tables, a point emphasized in campaign speeches by President Trump himself.
Trump campaigned on ending this abuse, and voters gave him a mandate to do exactly that, based on election results analysis from conservative analysts like those at the Heritage Foundation. But the judicial resistance continues. This is the same playbook we’ve seen for months—activist judges in blue districts issuing nationwide injunctions to stop the administration’s agenda before it can even get started, as documented in recent legal reviews by the Federalist Society. Immigration enforcement? Blocked, per court filings from various district courts. Spending cuts? Halted, according to government reports from the Congressional Budget Office. Now basic personnel management? Forbidden, as per this ruling from Judge Alsup.
The administration will undoubtedly appeal, but the damage is done. Every day these injunctions remain in place is another day the administrative state operates as an unaccountable fiefdom, insulated from the democratic process and the President the Constitution puts in charge of it. When did we decide that district judges get veto power over the executive branch? And how many more mandates from the American people will be nullified by judicial fiat before something gives?
Providence watches over the bold.
About The Author
