Legal challenges to federal job cuts: What’s at stake for Oklahoma

Congressman Kevin Hern faced some pushback from constituents in Glenpool on Thursday about the lack of oversight from Congress on job cuts at the federal level.

News On 6 spoke with CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane in Washington, D.C., about some of the pushback on the firings of federal workers in cities nationwide.

Q: There's also a growing number of lawsuits designed to slow or stop these firings. Where do those lawsuits stand right now?

A: “There are nearly 100 legal challenges going through the courts trying to stop or slow some Trump administration initiative, and so many of them involve those cutbacks in federal workers. The lawsuits are succeeding in slowing some of these cuts, but they’re not going to stop all of them. Some of these federal agencies are trimming what they call probationary employees. Those who have been in their current position for less than two years and have fewer civil service protections. They’re easier to remove. The courts can’t stop it, but what Congressman Hern experienced with the pushback he got this week was noticed by his colleagues nationwide. Obviously, Congressman Hern, former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, someone who has particularly conservative credentials here in Washington, represents a district that matches what other Republicans represent. If they get that same kickback or pushback protest from their constituents, let’s see how long these cuts in federal services last. Because Republicans in Congress may try to stop them if they keep getting such vocal denunciations from their constituents.”

Q: Let’s talk about that a little bit more. Both senators from Oklahoma have strongly supported this, you know, cutting back on some of the spending and things like that. But is there any other pushback from other GOP members of Congress? Maybe more moderate Republicans?

A: “Not yet, but they haven't done the big things yet. They haven't done the big congressional bills that are required next month to keep the government open, sometime before the summer, raise the debt ceiling to avoid a financial catastrophe, or do all the congressionally required advances to get border security money, border fencing, more agents, more immigration agents in the field, which the president is keen on doing. Let's see how Republicans galvanize votes for those things. Because, over the last two years, Republicans were stalemated on anything involving spending in Congress. You're going to have to fix that to do the big things. And Oklahoma's Republican congressional delegation, which is the entire delegation, will have to carry a heavy load to get it done.”

Q: And there's also been a purge of the Justice Department. We know here, at least in our viewing area, there are two federal courthouses: the Eastern District of Oklahoma and the Northern District of Oklahoma. So how will those cuts affect those two federal courthouses and federal courthouses nationwide?

A: “Keep an eye on that. It’s a big issue, and it impacts every city in America. First of all, the FBI has compiled, under orders, a list of 5,000 of its agents and employees who were part of those January 6 investigations. There’s concern some of those 5,000 will be cut or retaliated against for following orders and investigating the violent attack on the Capitol. A number of those cases went right through Oklahoma, which means FBI field agents from Tulsa to Oklahoma City and beyond were part of that. Federal courthouses, obviously, are hearing the cases brought by the Justice Department, but cutbacks in the federal agencies, the justice agencies that bring those cases, critics say, could make it more difficult to protect cities from federal crime. All of this has a retail impact in the communities, not here in Washington, which is why those are the cuts in particular to watch.”