An emergency ruling by a federal judge in California amounted to the broadest effort yet to halt the Trump administration’s overhaul of the federal government.

But the government may be ignoring it anyway The Trump administration's ongoing mass firing of government employees has been put on hold, with a federal judge calling the move "likely illegal" and ordering the government to hand over evidence to prove it didn't violate the law.

The courts are poised to tackle broad separation-of-powers arguments against the Trump administration’s historic cuts to the federal workforce, after a federal judge said the president likely violated the US Constitution.