Federal judge blocks mass layoffs and reorganization plans at HHS

Washington — A federal judge in Rhode Island has blocked the Department of Health and Human Services from implementing mass layoffs and overhauling some of its sub-agencies, finding there to be "no rational basis" for the Trump administration's reorganization plans that would have "devastating consequences" across the country if enacted.

The suit was brought by 19 Democratic attorneys general and Washington, D.C., in May, seeking to block an agency restructuring plan announced by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in March.

Their complaint warned of "severe, complicated, and potentially irreversible" consequences to public health services nationwide if the plan went forward, potentially "paralyzing" the agency "by means of a confusing reorganization."

"Critical public health services have been interrupted, databases taken offline, status of grants thrown into chaos, technical assistance services gone, and training and consultation services curtailed. These are not unsubstantiated fears," Judge Melissa DuBose wrote in her opinion granting the states' request for a preliminary injunction.

"HHS has failed to produce a shred of evidence that services to States and access to critical information would continue uninterrupted, that the harms are minimal or not irreparable, or that it is authorized to act absent Congressional action," she added.