Judge indefinitely halts shutdown layoffs, noting human toll

A federal judge in San Francisco has indefinitely halted the Trump administration's mass layoffs of federal employees tied to the government shutdown.

The decision came almost two weeks after U.S. District Judge Susan Illston temporarily paused thousands of layoffs , known as RIFs, or reductions in force, at agencies where the federal employee unions that brought the lawsuit, including the American Federation of Government Employees, have members or bargaining units.

In court Tuesday, an attorney representing the Trump administration pushed back, asserting that the executive branch can conduct RIFs before, during or after a lapse in Congressional appropriations to achieve the president's policy priorities — and that it's good policy to do so.

"If you don't have money coming in, you sh