President Donald Trump just had another one of his executive actions held up in the federal judiciary: This time, by one of his own appointed judges.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols — a member of the conservative Federalist Society who Trump appointed to the bench in 2019 — announced that he was imposing a temporary restraining order on the Trump administration's proposed firing of roughly 2,200 employees with the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney tweeted that Nichols may also require that Secretary of State Marco Rubio (who is USAID's acting director) reinstate approximately 500 USAID employees who have already been placed on leave.
Judge Nichols' ruling was celebrated by various legal and foreign policy experts on social media. Author and historian Charlie Thomas noted that Trump "can't just undo a whole agency established by legislation via executive order." And Tom Wolf of the Brennan Center for Justice observed that Trump is "steadily taking losses in the courts" as more of his executive actions fail to pass judicial muster. Earlier this week, a judge paused the ultimatum the Trump administration gave to federal workers to quit their jobs in exchange for several months of salary or risk being fired.
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"We're right at the beginning of things but to this point not a single federal judge has sanctioned any of this conduct," journalist David Dayen wrote on Bluesky.
Author Kian Razi celebrated the "rare moment of restraint from a Trump judge," calling Nichols' ruling "proof that even the most stacked deck can still turn up an unexpected card." And Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) lauded the decision as "another win for checks and balances on Trump's illegal overreach."
"USAID employees are dedicated public servants authorized by an act of Congress to fight the spread of disease, create economic stability in developing parts of the world, and build good will towards the US and its partners," he tweeted. "They deserve our utmost support."
According to the BBC, USAID employs approximately 10,000 people, with nearly two-thirds of them deployed overseas. USAID works regularly provide food, water, and medical care to impoverished communities around the world. The agency's $40 billion annual budget amounts to roughly 0.6% of total federal spending.