A US federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration violated the law when it moved to sharply reduce the workforce of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Reuters reports that US District Judge Susan Illston found the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to cut FEMA staffing by roughly half conflicted with legal protections designed to preserve the agency’s disaster-response functions. The dispute includes the non-renewal of thousands of on-call reservists used during emergencies.
The ruling does not yet set out a final remedy, but it represents a significant legal challenge to the administration’s restructuring of the agency. FEMA plays a central role in coordinating federal responses to hurricanes, floods, wildfires and other major disasters.
Source: Reuters
