'Incredulous': Judge bemused as Trump lawyers can't confirm if federal workers fired

Judge Tanya Chutkan held a rare emergency hearing on Monday's Presidents' Day holiday to hear the case for a temporary restraining order halting the activity of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Chutkan noted that several other cases currently in the courts attempt to pause cuts being ushered in by DOGE, which isn't a congressionally established or funded department. She asked why the broader case before her, which seeks to shut down all of DOGE's cuts, is different.

The legal team suing for the order pointed to reports over the dangers of Department of Energy employees who oversee the nuclear waste in Los Alamos, New Mexico as an example. They mentioned that thousands of government employees were let go on Friday.

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Chutkan asked whether the government's legal team could confirm — and they said they didn't know. It was a fact that legal analysts watching the case unfold were shocked by.

"I have not been able to look into that independently or confirm that," the government lawyer said, according to Just Security and MSNBC's Adam Klasfeld.

"The firing of thousands of federal employees is not a small or common thing. You haven’t been able to confirm that?" Klasfeld quoted Chutkan responding "incredulously."

Lawfare's Roger Parloff recorded Chutkan's concerns that DOGE's actions "have been unpredictable and scattershot." She commented that it's unclear if that is by design or a nature of the situation.

"That's why I'm asking: will there be terminations? Where? When?" Chutkan said, according to Parloff.

The government was forced to say they'd get back to her on that.

Lawfare managing editor Tyler McBrien pointed out that this might "sound damning," but that it might help the government's case in the end.

"This chaos may make it more difficult to demonstrate the immediate harm needed for the judge to issue a temporary restraining order — rather than just a generalized fear," he explained.

Chutkan said she would try to rule on the matter in 24 hours.