Trump-nominated judge temporarily blocks administration from placing USAID employees on leave
After an hourlong hearing this afternoon, Judge Carl J. Nichols, a Trump appointee, said he plans to issue a temporary restraining order that prevents President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency from placing 2,200 employees on administrative leave Friday night.
Nichols said the TRO would also prevent the "accelerated removal" of USAID from their posts overseas. He will issue a written order between now and midnight with a further explanation of the order.

"This is about how employees are harmed in their capacity as employees, in the employee-employer relationship, and it seems to me that, for reasons I will discuss in this order, that I will enter there, the plaintiffs have established at least that there is irreparable harm as it relates to that relationship," Nichols said.
-ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Peter Charalambous and Alexander Mallin






