The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) has urged the State Department to pause an impending wave of up to 2,000 layoffs, citing a federal court injunction issued on 13 June 2025 that halted mass dismissals. With notices set to be issued imminently, AFSA President Tom Yazdgerdi warns the department remains “legally barred” from proceeding unless the Supreme Court intervenes, highlighting the friction between executive reorganisation efforts and judicial authority.
The contested shake-up, announced in May by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, proposed trimming 3,448 roles – roughly 18 per cent of its US-based workforce – and shuttering or merging over 300 offices. The State Department contends the layoffs are part of a unique restructuring plan aligned with its core foreign policy missions, distancing it from broader federal workforce reductions ordered by the Trump White House. However, AFSA and career diplomats argue the reorganisation falls outside the department’s historical procedures, and against the backdrop of understaffing, threatens America’s diplomatic effectiveness.
Internally, the department has already revised its Foreign Affairs Manual, creating nearly 800 “competitive areas” for targeted reductions, a move seen by critics as laying groundwork for selective firings despite the injunction. While the State Department asserts full compliance with the court’s order, AFSA maintains its member base of 16,800 current and retired employees is deeply unsettled, warning that bypassing standard merit-based systems could damage morale and diplomatic acumen.
This episode underscores rising tensions between executive restructuring ambitions, judicial oversight, and the preservation of institutional expertise. With the Supreme Court’s pending involvement, the outcome will determine whether the department can proceed before 1 July’s planned deadline, or whether this legal impasse will force a rethink of how diplomatic capacity is managed in an era of austerity.
