Since President Trump took office just under two months ago, he and his administration have fired tens of thousands federal workers.
A federal judge in Maryland heard arguments in a case brought by 20 Democratic attorneys general about some of those firings on Wednesday.
19 states and the District of Columbia allege the Trump administration was "reckless and illegal" with the firings of federal workers. The states are seeking a restraining order from a federal judge in Maryland over the mass firings of federal employees who were on probationary status.
One of the plaintiffs in the case is attorney general of Arizona Kris Mayes. In an interview with NPR Morning Edition host A Martínez, she said the case aims to protect the rights of federal workers. "We want the judge, obviously, to rule that these mass firings of probationary employees were illegal," Mayes said.
"We want the Trump administration to reinstate these fired employees. We want the judge to order that further similar terminations be stopped. And we want to identify all of the affected employees."
Mayes spoke about how these firings are impacting her community, why she's not worried about losing support of voters in her state and why she continues to push back against the Trump administration's policies.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Interview highlights
A Martínez: You said "further [similar] terminations be stopped," so I'm wondering, Attorney General, if, say, the layoffs are put on hold or even reversed, but the Trump administration then decides to follow the letter of the law by informing states such as yours sixty days in advance, what recourse would you have then, if they follow the letter of the law?
Kris Mayes: First of all, what I would say is we're going to cross that bridge if it happens. The first thing that has to happen here is the Trump administration has to follow the law. Secondly, what I would say is the Trump administration is trying to do something that fundamentally violates and abrogates the separation of powers. This level of mass firings of federal employees is something that requires the input of Congress. This is not about stopping reform. It's about reform happening the right way, and the right way is for Congress to be involved.
Martínez: Is Congress required, though, to be involved if an administration, any administration wanted to do what the Trump administration is trying to do?
Mayes: I think, yes, at this level of change with this number of mass firings, Congress does have to be involved. Now, we're looking at the entire elimination of agencies or massive reductions in workforce out here in Arizona. We are seeing hotshot wildland firefighters being eliminated in the middle of a fire season and entire staffs at our national parks being eliminated. The entire Phoenix GSA office, which staffs our federal courts here, eliminated. These are the kinds of decisions that are having a real world impact on our states, but they are also fundamentally unlawful under our Constitution.
Martínez: I saw in a related lawsuit from employee unions, another federal judge in San Francisco ordered a partial halt to these mass firings, including at the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and the National Park Service. Also, an independent agency [the Merit Systems Protection Board] ordered the Department of Agriculture to give thousands of employees their jobs back. So in light of that, Attorney General, is that enough? What harm remains that your lawsuit seeks to remedy?
Mayes: Well, our lawsuit covers a number of other federal agencies. So while we saw the judge's order in that case as being obviously very positive and a sign that our courts are willing to step into the breach and protect our Constitution and our federal workers, it's probably not enough. And that's why we filed our lawsuit that would cover all of these different agencies.
Martínez: Attorney General, you represent a swing state, a state that narrowly voted for President Trump last year. Do you have any concerns at all about suing the administration, knowing how politically divided your state is?
Mayes: No, look, I was elected to uphold the rule of law. I took an oath to uphold the Arizona Constitution, the federal constitution and the people of this state expect me to stand up for them. And you can see the impact that this is having on Arizonans from the town hall that we just had out here. We had 400 people turn out, a whole lot of Republicans, a lot of independents and some Democrats showed up to decry what is happening, including doctors, health care workers and farmers. And this is what the people of Arizona expect me to do, and I'm going to continue to do it while I'm AG.
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