Judge refuses to reinstate inspectors general Trump fired: ‘They deserved better’

A federal judge refused on Wednesday evening to reinstate eight former inspectors general who filed a lawsuit after the Trump administration fired them with no warning and little explanation.

US district judge Ana Reyes said that while Donald Trump likely violated the federal law governing the process for removing the non-partisan watchdogs from office, the president’s firings didn’t cause enough irreparable harm to justify reinstating the watchdogs before the lawsuit is resolved.

The eight plaintiffs were among 17 inspectors general who were fired by Trump on 24 January. Each received identical two-sentence emails from the White House that attributed their removal to unspecified “changing priorities”. The mass firings targeted all but two of the cabinet agencies’ inspectors general.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys said the firings were unlawful because the administration didn’t give the US Congress the legally required 30-day notice or provide a “substantive, case-specific rationale” for removing them.

Government attorneys said the president can remove inspectors general “ without any showing of cause” and doesn’t have to wait 30 days after providing notice to Congress.

The judge noted that even if the inspectors general were reinstated, Trump could simply give notice to Congress and have them removed from their positions 30 days later.

Inspectors general are responsible for rooting out waste and fraud and other malpractice in federal agencies. They are nominated by the president and confirmed by the US Senate.

Reyes said the inspectors general had provided “exceptional service as IGs, marked by decades of distinguished leadership across multiple administrations”.

“They deserved better from their government. They still do,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, this Court cannot provide Plaintiffs more.”

Reyes said the plaintiffs can be legally compensated later if they win their lawsuit.

The plaintiffs were inspectors general at the Small Business Administration and the departments of defense, state, veterans affairs, health and human services, agriculture, education and labor. Their attorneys say work by inspectors general in 2023 alone saved more than $90bn in taxpayer dollars.

Neither the White House nor the attorney representing the inspectors general immediately responded to requests for comment.

“Defendants’ actions, moreover, telegraph to the public that many of the largest federal agencies now lack the institutional mechanisms to detect and stop fraud and abuse (or at a minimum those mechanisms have been greatly weakened), which will likely engender wrongdoing that could harm the public,” plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote.