The Agriculture Department has been ordered to halt its sweeping reorganization, including the forced relocations of thousands of USDA employees.
U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria on Tuesday granted a stay request from a coalition of federal unions that’s been suing USDA over the department’s mass reorganization effort.
The stay order this week extends a temporary administrative stay Chhabria first issued in September. The order will remain in effect while the court continues to review the case.
Chhabria ruled that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their arguments that the reorganization activities underway violate a provision in fiscal 2026 appropriations legislation that prohibits USDA from undertaking a reorganization without congressional approval.
The court found that USDA has “almost certainly” reprogrammed congressionally appropriated funding, or in other words, used money from Congress to shutter offices and relocate workers — purposes outside the scope of the intention for that funding.
The stay order indefinitely blocks USDA from putting any congressionally appropriated funds toward the reorganization.
Chhabria acknowledged, however, that the stay order may be short-lived: The legislative provision blocking USDA’s reorganization is part of the current continuing resolution, which expires Dec. 11.
“If the agency wishes to move forward with its plans to close offices and relocate employees, it will soon have the opportunity to convince Congress of the merits of those plans,” Chhabria wrote. “Congress, if it agrees, can choose not to extend the restrictions at issue in this case. But until then, USDA is preliminarily enjoined from spending appropriated funds on the challenged office closures and employee relocations.”
USDA first announced the reorganization plan in summer 2025. Trump administration officials have said the effort is meant to move the department’s work closer to the regions and people it serves.
The plan includes relocating approximately 2,600 employees based in the Washington, D.C. area — more than half of USDA personnel in the region — to agency hubs across the country. About 90% of the USDA workforce already works outside the National Capital Region.
USDA has issued hundreds of “management-directed reassignments” (MDRs) to D.C.-area employees, in effect telling them to choose between moving across the country or losing their jobs.
The department must now halt the issuance or enforcement of all MDR letters, and any other reassignments or relocations currently underway, the court order states. The department has two days following the issuance of the stay order to notify USDA employees about the update. Within one week, USDA must also declare to the court that it has complied with the order.
Asked about the update in the lawsuit, a USDA spokesperson told Federal News Network, “the department is reviewing the judge’s decision and will file its response with the court.”
The stay order covers many components affected by USDA’s reorganization plan where the unions represent employees. Those include the Forest Service; Food and Nutrition Administration; Foreign Agricultural Service; Agricultural Research Service; Office of the General Counsel; and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights; as well as department mission areas of Research, Education and Economics; Rural Development; and Farm Production and Conservation.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the American Federation of Government Employees, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the National Federation of Federal Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union.
The unions allege that the reorganization is a veiled attempt to conduct a reduction in force, as USDA has not outlined plans to replace employees who choose to leave their jobs rather than accept a reassignment or relocation.
“The administration’s attempt to gut this essential agency is blatantly illegal, and we’re thankful the court has stopped it, for now,” AFSCME President Patrick Moran said. “Forcing nonpartisan public service workers … to choose between their jobs and uprooting their families to move across the country would undermine the essential services USDA provides.”
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