A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Trump Administration can proceed with mass firings of government workers after a lawsuit was brought by five federal employee unions.

U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found that the unions must bring their claims under federal employment law rather than in district court. The judge, who said Trump’s aggressive first month has “caused “disruption and even chaos in widespread quarters of American society,” ultimately determined that he likely lacks authority to rule on whether the mass firings of government workers is lawful.

Cooper’s temporary ruling will allow the administration to continue with its massive staffing overhauls, much of which has been influenced by recommendations from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) committee.

The unions are instead likely required to file complaints with the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which hears disputes between federal agencies and unions that represent their workers, according to a report from Reuters. “Federal district judges are duty-bound to decide legal issues based on even-handed application of law and precedent — no matter the identity of the litigants or, regrettably at times, the consequences of their rulings for average people,” the judge wrote.

Doreen Greenwald, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, framed the decision as a temporary setback and stated that the lawsuit will be going forward through other means. “There is no doubt that the administration’s actions are an illegal end-run on Congress, which has the sole power to create and oversee federal agencies and their important missions,” Greenwald said in a statement.

The latest ruling represents another legal setback for unions seeking to stop the administration’s mass firings and buyout programs for federal workers who quit voluntarily. The agencies include the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Department of Veterans Affairs.

Two additional federal judges have also ruled that unions lack legal standing to halt the administration’s mass firings after failing to demonstrate how they were directly harmed by them. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan — who oversaw former special counsel Jack Smith’s controversial criminal case against the president — refused to block Musk’s team from providing recommendations on firings and personnel changes.

Chutkan’s ruling rejected a lawsuit filed by 14 Democrat state attorneys general aimed at blocking DOGE from accessing federal data systems at seven key executive branch agencies. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate “imminent, irreparable harm” that would justify an emergency intervention.

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