A federal judge temporarily blocked the latest round of firings from President Donald Trump, finding it was "illegal," an "excess of authority," and was "arbitrary and capricious."

Trump and his Office of Management and Budget director, Russ Vought, announced that during the government shutdown, they would fire thousands of people across the government.

The American Federation of Government Employees and other federal labor unions requested a temporary restraining order while the case about the legality moves through the courts.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston made it clear that she agreed and approved the temporary restraining order, The Associated Press reported. She noted in court that she was "inclined" to agree to the restraining order because, despite the government shutdown, laws must still be followed, GovEx's Eric Katz said on X.

The Trump administration has "taken advantage of the lapse in government spending, in government functioning, to assume that that all bets are off, that the laws don't apply to them anymore," she said.