SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has issued a sweeping ruling, blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture's massive reorganization, including a planned relocation of the U.S. Forest Service headquarters to Salt Lake City.
In a ruling issued Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in northern California blocked much of the USDA's planned reorganization.
"On the facts of this case, the most appropriate remedy is indeed to stay USDA’s reorganization expenditures, full stop," Judge Chhabria wrote.
As it pertains to the U.S. Forest Service, the judge said Secretary Brooke Rollins and the USDA are "enjoined and stayed from (a) closing or eliminating offices or (b) relocating or reassigning employees or their positions or functions to different and/or new locations outside the local commuting area, including by issuing or enforcing [management directed reassignment] letters or any other notice or directive of reassignment or relocation in whole or in part, including any deadlines in those letters at the Forest Service."
The U.S. Forest Service has yet to respond to an email from FOX 13 News seeking comment on the ruling and its impact on the relocation to Salt Lake City. The federal government could appeal the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
But Judge Chhabria wrote his ruling could be temporary.
"The relevant appropriations statutes are set to expire in less than two months. 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. 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," he wrote.
The battle has begun over Utah's Amendment B on your ballot:
In March, the USDA announced it would relocate the U.S. Forest Service headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Salt Lake City, closing regional offices. It was a move that was praised by Republican political leaders in Utah for bringing a major agency closer to the lands it manages.
Since then, Governor Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Schultz and Senate President J. Stuart Adams have held numerous events with the Forest Service chief, including at the Cottonwood Fire where agreements were signed on forest management.
A coalition of labor unions, conservation groups, and even some local government offices sued over the USDA reorganization for numerous reasons.
"This is a welcome reprieve to the Trump-Vance administration’s reckless, unlawful, and disruptive reorganization of USDA. The department provides vital services across America, supporting rural communities, protecting our food supply, feeding families, advancing agricultural research, guarding our forests and public lands, and so much more. We look forward to achieving more permanent relief and continuing to fight for American families, farmers, and workers," the group said in a statement.
Read the ruling here: