Sacramento, March 1 (RHC)-- A U.S. federal judge in California has ruled that President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s mass firings of probationary government employees were illegal, siding with a coalition of labor unions and nonprofit groups. 

Judge William Alsup ordered the Office of Personnel Management to retract memos directing numerous agencies to fire an estimated total of 200,000 workers, and to inform department heads that the OPM has no such authority. But he stopped short of ordering a halt to the firings, leaving that move up to the affected agencies.

The news came just as a wave of layoffs was underway at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.  Hundreds of probationary employees working on crucial climate and weather projects lost their jobs.  It’s not clear if Judge Alsup’s ruling will lead to the reversal of those or any other firings.

In related news, a federal judge in Virginia ruled that the Trump administration can fire dozens of CIA and intelligence officers who worked on diversity programs.

[ SOURCE: DEMOCRACY NOW ]