A judge in San Francisco has ordered the Trump administration to temporarily pause the mass firing of federal employees amid the ongoing government shutdown .

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston made clear at the beginning of Wednesday’s hearing that she was inclined to rule in favor of the federal worker unions suing to stop the firings because she said the layoffs seemed to be politically motivated and rushed.

“It is a situation where things are being done before they’re being thought through. It’s very much ‘ready, fire, aim,’ on most of these programs,” Illston said. “And it has a human cost, which is really why we’re here today. It’s a human cost that cannot be tolerated.”

The judge cited several public comments by President Donald Trump expressing his intention to target “Democ

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