A federal judge in Washington, DC, on Saturday struck down key provisions of three executive orders President Donald Trump had signed in May that sought to make it easier to fire federal employees.

"In this Court’s view, these directives undermine federal employees’ right to bargain collectively as protected by the [Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute]," US District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in her ruling, "and as a result, the President must be deemed to have exceeded his authority in issuing them."

The president signed the orders in May, with a White House official telling reporters at the time they would "empower good workers," "advance a merit-based system," and allow federal agencies "to remove poor-performing employees," saving millions of taxpayer dollars.

Specifically, the orders limited the amount of time federal employees could spend on union business to no more than one-quarter of working hours. They also instructed federal agencies on how to proceed with collective bargaining negotiations with unions, and reduced the number of days, to 30 from 120, that underperforming employees have to show improvement, among other things.

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President J. David Cox Sr. said in May that the orders were aimed at removing "checks and balances" on the president, who has repeatedly railed against what he sees as a so-called deep state of bureaucrats who seek to undermine him.



"This administration seems hellbent on replacing a civil service that works for all taxpayers with a political service that serves at its whim," Cox said in May.