JUST IN: Federal Judge Hands President Trump Huge Win

A federal judge just granted President Trump a big win, ruling against a group of CIA DEI hires who sued the Trump administration to secure their own jobs.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga has just ruled that the Trump administration is free to go ahead with their plans to clean house over at the CIA by firing officials assigned to temporary roles in DEI programs.

This decision comes as a reversal of Judge Trenga’s previous ruling. Earlier this month, the George W. Bush appointee had temporarily blocked the Trump administration from firing these CIA DEI employees.

Let the great CIA purge begin!

Here are the details:

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can go ahead with plans to fire dozens of officers from the CIA and other intelligence agencies who had temporary jobs working on diversity programs. pic.twitter.com/E6LZcw1Ml2

— The DOGE Report (@the_dogereport) February 27, 2025

BREAKING: A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can go ahead with plans to fire dozens of officers from the CIA and other intelligence agencies who had temporary jobs working on diversity programs.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga said if fairness and… pic.twitter.com/SYJGq7CVna

— Melissa Hallman (@dotconnectinga) February 27, 2025

NBC reported on the ruling:

A federal judge ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can go ahead with plans to fire dozens of officers from the CIA and other intelligence agencies who had temporary jobs working on diversity programs.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga said if fairness and morals were the standard on which he had to rule, he might have delivered a different decision. But the law dictates otherwise, he said.

“They had the misfortune of being last assigned to a DEI program,” he said, calling it a “difficult situation.”

The ruling could open the way to wider firings at the CIA and across the intelligence community as the Trump administration presses ahead with plans to slash the federal workforce and the size of the federal government. At least 51 CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence officers now face imminent dismissal, according to Kevin Carroll, the lawyer representing some of the officers.

The judge had previously put the imminent firing of the intelligence officers on hold to hear arguments for and against the move. The lawsuit was brought by 17 CIA officers and two employees with the ODNI, including the former head of the office overseeing all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across all intelligence agencies, according to Carroll. At least 22 other officers were due to be fired for the same reason but were not part of the lawsuit.

Politico added:

A federal judge has turned down a bid to block the Trump administration from firing intelligence officers who worked in DEI programs, but he prodded the spy agencies involved to try to find new jobs in the intelligence community for those being ousted.

At a hearing Thursday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga said the laws and court precedents relating to intelligence agency employees give them little recourse in the courts if top officials decide that firing them is in the “national interest,” even if they’ve worked for the government for a decade or more.

“In effect, they are at-will employees,” said Trenga, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

The employees involved in the case are 19 intelligence-agency workers whom the administration identified as working on “diversity, equity and inclusion.” President Donald Trump has sought to end DEI initiatives throughout the federal government.

In their lawsuit contesting their firings, the workers say they had been temporarily assigned by their agencies to implement civil rights laws within the intelligence community. Their duties included advancing the hiring and promotion of underrepresented minorities. They say Congress appropriated money for the specific tasks they were carrying out.

The workers allege that the firings violate two federal laws as well as the First and Fifth Amendments.

But Trenga said CIA Director John Ratcliffe has “uncabined discretion” to use the “national interest” provision to strip employees of the ability to use any of the normal mechanisms to contest a firing.

“The regulations clearly state that there is no property interest in the employment they have,” the judge said. “The ability of the director to terminate without respect to any other procedures is embedded in those regulations.”

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