Evers knocks Congress for inaction as Wisconsin joins latest lawsuit against Trump administration

Gov. Tony Evers said the latest lawsuit joined by the state of Wisconsin against President Donald Trump’s administration gets at “who’s in charge” of the federal government.

The suit, filed last week in a federal court in Maryland, alleges that the Office of Personnel Management violated the law when it terminated the employment of federal workers with probationary status.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul was one of 20 attorneys general to sign onto the suit.

Speaking to reporters in Eau Claire on Monday, Evers said the firings, which followed an executive order calling for a reduction in the federal workforce and might have affected thousands of Wisconsinites, violates the separation of powers.

“Congress passed laws to provide the money for those people to do that work, and the executive branch somehow is saying, ‘We know more than you, and we’re going to start firing people at will,’” Evers said.

He said the firings affect organizations like the Veterans Administration, which he said is already chronically understaffed.

“There’s a shortage of people working to make sure that our veterans are taken care of, and so none of this makes any sense,” he said.

Congress “passed laws, they put money in the budget for those things that they set as priorities, and suddenly the executive branch says, ‘Well, no, what you did is wrong, or we’re just going to ignore you,’” he added. “That’s just ridiculous. That’s not the way this country works.”

Nationwide, federal workers received termination notices last month following a  Feb. 11 executive order issued by Trump. Evers said Monday that his office is still working to identify how many Wisconsin workers were affected.

That number might be in the thousands, as at least 2,200 workers across federal agencies in the state had been employed for less than a year as of May, according to the most recent federal data. 

In Wisconsin’s latest multi-state lawsuit led by Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown, plaintiffs argue that the firings were illegal because they did not follow required processes, including giving 60 days notice. The suit also argues they harm civil servants’ livelihoods and place an undue burden on states now having to offer unemployment and other benefits to fired workers.  

“President Trump and his Administration have made no secret of their contempt for the roughly 2 million committed professionals who form the federal civil service,” the lawsuit reads. “These large-scale, indiscriminate firings are not only subjecting the Plaintiff States and communities across the country to chaos. They are also against the law.”

But more cuts might be coming, as the Trump administration has directed agencies to develop plans for further cuts by this Thursday, and an internal memo from the VA says it expects to cut about 80,000 jobs. Labor leaders gathered in Milwaukee on Friday to condemn the recent cuts, arguing they threaten veterans’ care.

Meanwhile, some workers saw their jobs reinstated just as suddenly, as 6,000 U.S. Department of Agriculture workers were allowed to return to work following a temporary pause to their firings.