Federal judge won’t cancel hearing where key Trump administration official is expected to testify about probationary firings

A federal judge on Monday rejected a request from the Trump administration to cancel an evidentiary hearing set for later this week in a major case concerning the government’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, refusing to lift his order that the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management testify.

A federal judge on Monday rejected a request from the Trump administration to cancel an evidentiary hearing set for later this week in a major case concerning the government’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce, refusing to lift his order that the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management testify. Last month, US District Judge William Alsup ordered acting OPM director Charles Ezell to appear at the hearing this Thursday so he can be cross-examined by attorneys representing labor unions and others that are challenging the administration’s decision to fire thousands of probationary federal employees. But on Monday, Justice Department attorneys representing the administration took the extraordinary step of asking the judge to cancel the hearing – which he previously said he would not do – and quash the subpoenas issued to Ezell and a slew of other officials for either depositions or courtroom testimony this week. “The problem here is that Acting Director Ezell submitted a sworn declaration in support of defendants’ position, but now refuses to appear to be cross examined, or to be deposed (despite, it should be added, government counsel’s embrace of that very idea during the TRO hearing),” Alsup, who sits in the federal courthouse in San Francisco, wrote in a two-page order late Monday. “The Court’s order that he appear or be deposed will not be vacated, nor will the hearing on March 13,” he continued. “If Ezell does not appear in violation of that order, then the Court will have to decide the sanction, including whether or not to strike or limit his sworn declaration.” The Justice Department has already submitted a declaration from Ezell in the case, but the judge has stressed it would be unfair for it to remain in the case if the other side doesn’t have an opportunity to question him under oath.