A federal judge on Wednesday refused to reinstate eight inspectors general who were fired by Trump and sued to regain their jobs.
Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden appointee, said President Trump violated the law by firing the inspectors general, but she has no authority to reinstate them.
“[Under] well-established case law that this Court is bound to follow, Plaintiffs must show irreparable harm. And they cannot. Even assuming that the IGA comports with Article II, Plaintiffs’ inability to perform their duties for 30 days is not irreparable harm. Moreover, if the IGs were reinstated, the President could lawfully remove them after 30 days by providing the required notice and rationale to Congress,” Judge Reyes wrote.
President Trump earlier this year fired over a dozen inspectors general in a late night purge shortly after he was sworn into office.
The eight fired inspectors general sued to get their jobs back and argued that Trump violated a questionable law passed by Congress in 2022.
The law requires a US president to notify Congress 30 days before firing an inspector general and to explain in detail the reason for the termination.
Judge Ana Reyes previously ripped into lawyers for the fired inspectors general suing to get their jobs back.
Real Clear Politics reporter Susan Crabtree explained that many of these IGs, who are in a position to identify and clean up waste and abuse, have long histories of whitewashing reports and playing politics.
President Trump kept current Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari Jr., who is conducting multiple investigations into the Secret Service failures that led to two assassination attempts on President Trump’s life.
Trump also kept IG Michael Horowitz, who has a record of whitewashing reports and excusing criminal acts by far-left officials.
‼️‼️TRUMP FIRES 17 INSPECTORS GENERALS in a late-night purge punctuating the end of his first five days in office. @RealDonaldTrump dismissed 17 federal agency watchdogs. I’ve covered these IGs for years — and trust me when I say, even though they are charged with ferreting out… pic.twitter.com/ILwBW2NRxY
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) January 25, 2025
Judge Reyes previously tore into the lawyers for waiting 3 weeks to file a lawsuit and then demanding an emergency, same-day temporary restraining order (TRO).
The judge forced the lawyers to withdraw their TRO motion and then threatened them with sanctions.
Reyes fumed after the lawyers representing the IGs compared their firings to those of recently fired Special Counsel Hampton Dellinger.