The decision was in response to a lawsuit from nearly two dozen states alleging the Trump administration violated federal law by not following common procedure when firing thousands of employees.

Last month, U.S. District Judge William Alsup in California ordered officials at the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Energy, Interior, Agriculture, and Treasury to “immediately” reinstate all fired probationary employees.

The U.S. Supreme Court blocked on Tuesday a judge's order for President Donald Trump's administration to rehire thousands of fired employees, acting in a dispute over his efforts to slash the federal workforce and dismantle parts of the government.