Judge orders Trump DOJ to produce OPM head for testimony in mass firings case or face his wrath as legal showdown looms
Source: Law & Crime
Mar 11th, 2025, 12:39 pm
A federal judge in California has ordered the Trump administration to produce Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel and Management, for testimony in the ongoing OPM mass firings case, just days after the Justice Department allegedly claimed Ezell wouldn’t be made available to testify — or face his wrath in court.
“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,” warned U.S. District Judge William Alsup in a Monday order.
Ezell, appointed by Trump to be acting director after he took office in January, is accused of unlawfully firing thousands of government workers still in the probationary period of their employment. The judge had previously ordered Ezell to appear in court on Thursday to testify, but the plaintiffs suing the OPM — five labor unions and five nonprofit organizations — said in court filings last week that they believed DOJ’s Civil Division was not going to let Ezell take the stand. On Monday, those fears came to fruition as DOJ lawyers filed a motion to vacate the upcoming evidentiary hearing and preclude Ezell’s testimony.
Alsup said in his ruling that he sided against the request to have Ezell skate testimony because he had already submitted a sworn declaration supporting the defendants’ position. The government argued in its motion that “the March 13 evidentiary hearing and any depositions are unnecessary in light of OPM’s compliance with the TRO and [their] willingness to convert the Court’s TRO into a preliminary injunction.” But Alsup, a Bill Clinton appointee, pointed out how things have changed since he first granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) last month halting any additional firings.
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/court-will-have-to-decide-the-sanction-judge-orders-trump-doj-to-produce-opm-head-for-testimony-in-mass-firings-case-or-face-his-wrath-as-legal-showdown-looms/
Full headline: ‘Court will have to decide the sanction’: Judge orders Trump DOJ to produce OPM head for testimony in mass firings case or face his wrath as legal showdown looms
Link to ORDER (PDF viewer) - https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25557305-charles-ezelljudge-order/
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25557305/charles-ezelljudge-order.pdf
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in contempt...............
