Mass Layoffs of Federal Workers

by Madison Benoit ‘29 on October 23, 2025

News

Backlash from the Courts

As the government shutdown carries on, the White House and the Trump administration vow to continue with the nearly 4,000-person mass layoffs that were recently blocked by a court order.

The layoffs are currently aimed at more than 400 employees at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 465 Education Department Staff, and 102 employees at the Census Bureau.

This information comes from a court filing in a battle between two federal employee unions—The American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees—against the Trump administration. The unions have filed against the administration, stating that the firings are “politically driven RIFs,” or reductions in force, defined as the permanent termination of employees, often on a large scale, typically due to financial hardship, restructuring, or other business decisions.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston from the Northern District of California granted the unions a temporary restraining order, which will halt some of the layoffs that were announced on Oct. 10 and will prevent new layoffs from taking place until the next hearing on Oct. 28, at which she will consider an indefinite pause.

Although the administration has repeatedly stated that they will obey the order and stop the blocked layoffs, this comes after the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services saw the highest number of reductions, with more than 1,000 workers laid off. The administration has also clearly noted that they believe that most of the employees who received their notices before the court order, or are expecting to soon, are not protected by the court order, which only applies to programs or offices where the suing unions have members or bargaining units.

Judge Illston said that she does not think agencies should be carrying out layoffs while the temporary restraining order is in effect and urges the government to “err on the side of caution” at a status conference.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has called Illston “another far-left partisan judge.” Leavitt has also added that the White House is confident their actions are legal and called the layoffs “an unfortunate consequence” of the government shutdown.

The order is further complicated by the executive order issued by President Donald Trump earlier this year, which ended collective bargaining rights for most federal workers, citing national security concerns.

This means several agencies indicated they believed the court order does not apply to their employees because their agency no longer has an obligation to bargain with the unions that have sued the administration.

These layoffs still only amount to a small number of the federal employees who have left the government since Trump returned to the White House in January.

Local Lawmakers Deliver Push Back on Pell Grants

by Madison Benoit ‘29 on October 2, 2025

News

Rhode Island lawmakers are among those pushing back against a proposal that would rename a new type of Pell Grant to “Trump Grants.” Pell Grants are scholarships specifically reserved for undergraduate students with the most financial need.

The grants are named in honor of former U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell, a Democrat who spent 36 years representing Rhode Island, making him the state’s longest-serving senator. He played a key role in enacting the grants and always said they were his greatest achievement.

Through the current program, qualifying Americans can receive up to $7,395 annually for around six years. These grants don’t usually need to be paid back, but they also do not cover the full costs of attending college. In the 2023 fiscal year, 31 billion dollars in Pell Grants were awarded to about 6.5 million undergraduate students, according to the Department of Education.

The name change is included in a House spending bill for the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education for the next fiscal year. Although changes to the grants were made when President Donald Trump signed the major tax and spending cuts package in July, these changes include a new grant called the Workforce Pell Grant. Next year, students who are enrolled in certain career training programs will be able to receive Pell Grants.

In a letter to the chair and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Congressmen Gabe Amo and Congressman Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island argued against the name change. They stated that Rhode Island’s longest-serving U.S. senator was a visionary public servant and any attempt to erase Senator Pell’s name was a “profound insult” to the senator’s legacy. They described him as a senator who saw the barriers that prevented millions of Americans from accessing higher education and wished to break them down.

The Congressmen also pointed out Trump’s own record in education, which includes his efforts to dismantle the Department of Education and freeze federal funding at institutions of higher education.

Senator Pell died in 2009 at the age of 90, but he is remembered by his longstanding service to Rhode Island and education. His other notable actions include helping to establish the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Judge Convicts Routh in Attempted Assassination of President Trump

by Reese Kubick '29 on October 2, 2025

News

On Sept. 15, 2024, Ryan Routh was perched in a bush at Donald Trump’s West Palm Beach Country Club, a rifle in hand, with the intent to assassinate President Trump. A Secret Service member recounted what happened on the golf course, saying that “he spotted Routh before Trump came into view. Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire, causing Routh to drop his weapon and flee without firing a shot.” Law enforcement gained intel from a witness that he saw a man fleeing from the area after hearing gunshots, and the witness later confirmed that it was Routh whom he saw.

On Tuesday, Sept. 23, just over a year after the attempted assassination, Ryan Routh was found guilty of attempting to assassinate President Trump. Routh was charged with five federal criminal counts, including attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, assault on a police officer, and firearm charges. These charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The trial consisted of three weeks, and after the jury deliberated for several hours, they returned with the verdict: guilty on all charges.

The two councils spent weeks preparing their cases. Both sides’ arguments were complex, but here is a brief and simplified outline of the prosecution and defense arguments:

The prosecution argued that Routh had the intent to kill; in legal terms, intent is defined by having “mens rea,” which is a Latin term meaning a “guilty mind”. It determines responsibility and culpability, distinguishing accidental acts from purposeful ones. Intent is often proven through circumstantial evidence and can be classified as general intent (to perform the act) or specific intent (to achieve a particular result). The prosecution notes the 17 reconnaissance trips he made to the golf course, and they described Routh stalking Trump excessively. Additionally, they needed to prove that Routh had taken substantial steps to carry out the crime. Substantial steps is another legal term, which means, “an act that moves beyond mere preparation and strongly indicates a criminal intent to commit a crime, leaving no reasonable doubt about the defendant’s purpose.” To prove this case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Browne said: “This was not a publicity stunt…[T]he evidence has shown one thing and one thing only—the defendant wanted Donald Trump dead.” Browne also notes that Routh was hiding in the bush for nearly 10 hours before the attempt on Trump’s life.

The defense argued that Routh did not have the capacity to kill. Meaning, the mere planning of something is not enough to prove the intent of committing a crime. Additionally, they asserted that if Routh had the intent to kill Trump or even the Secret Service agent, he would have pulled the trigger, since he did not, the crime did not occur, according to the defense. In the closing argument, the defense tried to persuade the jury that it was not in the defendant’s heart to kill the President.

After the verdict was read, Routh reacted horrifically by attempting to stab himself in the neck with a pen, and he was removed from the courtroom.

Routh’s daughter Sara was in the courtroom, and as he was being escorted out, she shouted, “Dad, I love you. Don’t do anything. I will get you out.” Routh was returned to the courtroom, escorted by court marshals and in shackles and was informed he would be sentenced on Dec.18.