HOUSTON KEENE: Americans Lose When Unelected Bureaucrats Try To Play Politics With Federal Jobs

A district judge’s recent order to overturn the Trump administration’s decision to fire federal employees proves America’s entrenched unelected bureaucracy is not going down without a fight.

Yes, you heard that right: Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia recently ruled that the President of the United States must rehire the over 1,000 fired Voice of America (VOA) employees released last year. Thankfully, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed the judge’s order, preventing it from going into effect for the moment. Still, Judge Lamberth’s move was a decision contrary to the Constitution’s separation of powers, and a slap in the face of the people who elected this administration to clean house.

Worse, this is just the latest instance of the judiciary encroaching on the executive branch’s power. This time it is calling into question the very idea of serving at the pleasure of the president.

In 2025, the Trump administration sought to reduce the operations of VOA, the U.S. Agency for Global Media (VOA’s parent company), and six other federal agencies down to the bare minimum mandated by law. While this aligns with the Trump administration’s mandate of streamlining the federal government, Judge Lamberth’s animosity toward the effort shows a glaring flaw in our checks and balances.

As a result of the district judge’s decision, 1,042 of VOA’s 1,147 employees were to be reinstated without the president’s approval. However, a three-judge appeals court panel stayed the reinstatement order on March 31 pending further review. Thanks to this subsequent decision, these 1,000-plus employees will remain on leave while the appeals court weighs the case.

A successful bid to forcibly reinstate these federal employees would undermine the president’s authority to manage the executive branch. Trump and any future presidents would find it increasingly difficult to fire underperforming federal workers or trim the fat at other agencies and departments. Even if they prove successful in gutting the bureaucracy, they will have to engage in arduous legal battles along the way. This dynamic certainly does not foster the American people’s trust in their institutions, as they wonder who is really in charge.