The Trump administration was granted a victory in its efforts to nullify collective bargaining rights for federal workers after an appeals court said a district judge’s order shouldn’t remain in place pending an appeal.

The government is likely to prevail in its quest to reverse an injunction ordering it to continue following union contracts for two-thirds of federal workers, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said in its order to grant the administration’s motion to stay.

Central to the dispute is an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March stripping workers of their union rights because their jobs concern “national security.” The order involved more than 40 government offices, including the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Treasury.

Judge Paul Friedman of the US District Court for the District of Columbia issued the preliminary injunction April 25, and then denied a motion to stay it , agreeing with the National Treasury Employees’ Union that the directive violates standing law.

Judges Karen Henderson, a Reagan appointee, and Justin Walker, a Trump appointee, held in Friday’s decision that Friedman’s order couldn’t stand during the administration’s appeal because NTEU failed to demonstrate irreparable harm caused by the executive order.

The panel further said that the preliminary injunction inflicted irreparable harm upon the president by “impeding his national-security prerogatives.”

“Preserving the president’s autonomy under a statute that expressly recognizes his national-security expertise is within the public interest,” the decision said. “To hold otherwise would give to the courts what the Constitution gave to Congress and the President.”

NTEU sued over the order along with the American Federation of Government Employees after the administration launched legal attacks against them to void their contracts.

Judge Michelle Childs, a Biden appointee, said in her dissent Friday that the government’s argument “glides over its obligation to show irreparable injury.” She pointed to the fact that NTEU has been bargaining contracts for federal employees since the 1970s and the injunction maintains these state of affairs.

“An extraordinary use of our equitable powers requires more than the vague assertions of harm provided here,” she said.

Representatives for the union and the administration didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

NTEU was represented by union attorneys. The administration was represented by the Department of Justice.

The case is National Treasury Employees Union v. Trump , D.C. Cir., No. 25-05157, 5/16/25.