On Thursday, a judge ruled to prolong the pause on the process of placing the majority of employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development agency on leave.

The District of Columbia U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled to move the order up a week, to February 21. The judge also changed the previous order in another manner:

The TRO’s statement said, “No USAID employees shall be evacuated from their host countries,” while the TRO is in place is amended to state, “No USAID employees shall be involuntarily evacuated from their host countries” while the TRO is in place.

Fox News:

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., granted the request of USAID employees to extend the restraining orders that prevent the Trump administration from shutting down USAID.

U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols (a Trump appointee) said that he would extend the temporary restraining orders by one week, and plans to make a final ruling on a request for blocking President Donald Trump’s actions on February 21.

In his new order, he instructs the government that any USAID employee placed on administrative leave must be reinstated and prohibits the Trump administration from implementing new administrative leaves for USAID staff.

Some legal observers were surprised by the ruling, including Lawfare’s senior editor Roger Parloff who wrote in his X account that:

On Thursday, the hearing was:

Nichols asked plaintiffs’ attorneys about the impact of an order to stop work that put virtually all USAID employees on leave.

The American Foreign Service Association, the American Federation of Government Employees, and attorney Karla Gilbride said that “this is not a series of isolated incidents. This is an unprecedented dismantling of an agency created by Congress.” Plaintiffs are “being harmed by unconstitutional actions… This is an unconstitutional and coordinated effort to dismantle this agency.”

Eric Hamilton, representing Trump’s DOJ, pushed against the claims. He told Judge Nichols that this whole situation was a “personnel matter” and “should be dealt with via the Merit Systems Protection Board appeals process rather than the federal courts system.”

You can also find this:

He cited a ruling by U.S. district judge George O’Toole on Wednesday night in Massachusetts that allowed the Trump administration’s “fork in road” resignation offer to remain in place.

We’ll see what happens next on Feb. 21, when the judge is expected to make a final ruling on the case.

The full decision can be read here.

Elon Musk, who was appointed by President Trump to dismantle the parts of our government that aren’t serving the best interests of Americans, wrote on X: “I am very disappointed with this ruling. Trump wrote that he has tasked himself with dismantling those parts of government that are not serving the American people’s best interests.