By John Fritze, CNN
(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Friday sided against the Trump administration, keeping alive a federal lawsuit from immigration judges who are attempting to challenge a policy that limits their ability to speak publicly.
“At this stage,” the court said in a brief order, “the government has not demonstrated that it will suffer irreparable harm without a stay.”
There were no noted dissents and the decision suggested the Trump administration could try again at a later stage.
The case started off as a challenge to a personnel policy that requires immigration judges to obtain approval before they offer public remarks. A former labor union that represented the judges – who are part of the Justice Department – sued in federal court alleging that the policy violated their First Amendment right of free speech.
That policy, which began during President Donald Trump’s first term and was altered during the Biden administration, “categorically forbids” the judges “from speaking publicly in their personal capacities about immigration and about the agency that employs them,” attorneys at the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University told the Supreme Court.
But by the time it reached the Supreme Court, the dispute dealt with a more technical question of where that fight can be heard – in federal court or before independent civil service agencies that typically review such claims by federal workers. That latter option is a problem for the immigration judges – and other federal employees – because Trump has been working to undermine those agencies for months.
The Justice Department wanted the judges to first use the administrative route. The judges are attempting to keep their case in federal court.
In May, the court allowed Trump to temporarily remove officials at the Merit Systems Protection Board and the National Labor Relations Board.
In that sense, the decision could have had ramifications beyond the judges by applying to other federal workers bringing similar claims.
The Justice Department has argued that without intervention from the Supreme Court, an appeals court ruling that came down in favor of the immigration judges would “wreak havoc” on similar cases.
“Only this court can halt the ongoing and rapidly spreading uncertainty for countless cases,” US Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the court.
A federal district court ruled for the administration, finding that the judges’ claims needed to be reviewed by the administrative agencies. But the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision earlier this year, ordering the trial court to review whether those administrative agencies are working as Congress intended.
The “foundational principle,” the appeals court said, “that functioning and independent bodies would receive, review, and decide in the first instance challenges to adverse personnel actions affecting covered federal employees, has recently been called into question.”
Shortly after the emergency appeal was filed on December 5, Chief Justice John Roberts, who handles emergency appeals from the 4th Circuit, agreed to a request from the Trump administration to issue an “administrative” order that temporarily blocked the federal district court from proceeding with the case.
In its order Friday, however, the Supreme Court said that the district court c