Next Interior Memos weekly digest 2025-10-23

As you will have noticed, there was a good bit of news for Interior late last week and early this week. We ran a “Sunday Edition” to cover the basics of the Reductions-In-Force (RIFs) news and the Alaska typhoon disaster. New information became available on both Monday and Tuesday this week, and Tony Irish, a former associate solicitor with Interior, did a great job diving into the details and providing really helpful insight. I asked Tony if he’d be willing to contribute to this week’s digest with a “deep summary” and—fortunately for everyone—he was! So before we get to other news items, an action item, and a tease for a release next week, I’ll turn the mic over to him (thanks, Tony):

RIFs update (Tony)

A common aphorism applied to the legal profession is “the wheels of justice turn slowly.” The statement is common because it was, is, and will necessarily continue to be true. Even as to the merits of the current shutdown RIF case, final resolution is likely years away. Nonetheless, when stakes are high, when a party to litigation acts with seeming reckless disregard, and when a court is so inclined, the inner gears of that wheel can move with lightning speed and also offer some temporary relief. Such has been the case so far this week in the Northern District of California. A brief summary with an Interior focus.

On Monday, Interior filed a declaration describing otherwise imminent RIFs at the agency that would have affected competitive areas that included employees who were represented by the four unions then a part of the litigation (RIFs that cannot occur while the current temporary restraining order (TRO) is in place). Interior indicated that there were 89 such competitive areas for which RIFs abolishing 2,050 positions were otherwise imminent, and that within those areas there were a total of 14,212 employees, 4,833 of which are members of four covered unions. The declaration also included a detailed list of each competitive area, and many media outlets have provided further breakdowns of the numbers, you can find one such bureau-level rundown here.

Tuesday brought more activity. Pursuant to a schedule established by the court, the unions filed a motion for preliminary injunction (PI). This is necessary because a TRO is a time-limited essentially emergency measure. A PI provides more refined and lasting relief, potentially for the duration of the slow wheel turn of a case. Notably, as part of the PI motion the unions are also asking the court to order the defendant agencies to provide an accounting of all RIFs the defendant agencies have initiated since October 1, or have been in preparation between October 15 and when the court rules on the PI motion. Previously, the defendant agencies have only been required to account for RIFs in areas where there were employees represented by the plaintiff unions.  

Perhaps more notably, the plaintiff unions also on Tuesday moved to add three more unions (and six more agencies) to the scope of the TRO (and to amend their complaint to reflect the same changes). All three of the newly proposed unions have sizable presences at Interior: the National Treasury Employees Union (“NTEU”); the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, and the AFL-CIO (“IFPTE”); and American Federation of Teachers (“AFT”). If the court granted this order, it would both expand the number of areas for which Interior cannot RIF, and, if Interior had been planning to soon RIF outside of the 89 areas already covered by the TRO, go back and reassess whether any employees in those areas are represented by the newly added unions.

On Wednesday, the court indeed granted the order to expand the TRO. Interior is now currently restrained from conducting a RIF in any area that contains an employee represented by the NTEU, IFPTE, and AFT, in addition to the plaintiff unions: AFGE, NAGE, NFFE, and SEIU.

As I write on Wednesday evening, who knows what Thursday may bring. Friday, however, we know will bring the Government’s “responsive papers” to the motion for preliminary injunction (almost certainly in the form of opposition to the motion). Should the plaintiffs wish to reply to the Government’s response (they will) they must do so by Monday at 3:00 Pacific time. The court will hold a hearing on the PI motion Tuesday at 10:30 Pacific. If I were a betting person, my money would be on a ruling shortly thereafter.

TROs, generally, are unappealable, while PIs are appealable. Lawyers like to say generally a lot to cover their bases, here necessarily so as recently the Supreme Court construed a TRO as more like a PI and on that basis found the ability to strike it down. Nonetheless, a ruling on the PI is likely to be issued within the next week, so I think an attempt to appeal the TRO is unlikely. Whatever the ruling on the PI is, it will undoubtedly be appealed to the 9th Circuit, and likely find its way to the Supreme Court.

A fast-moving court system is a whiplash-inducing yo-yo ride. All the more so when thousands of peoples’ livelihoods and the capacity to ably carry out Interior’s grand missions is at stake amidst a shutdown. Whatever happens in this case in the coming week, good or ill, will only be temporary in nature. Anxiety will remain palpable. Breathe deep, get outdoors or find whatever your form of relaxation is if you are able, try to remain informed, and above all take care of yourself and one another.

If you care to read directly the existing and future filings in this litigation, you can find most of them for free here on Courtlistener. 

We'll keep tracking RIF and shutdown matters and provide updates as needed.

Other items

• The shutdown impacts to parks and other public lands continues, like illegal BASE jumpers at Yosemite and park service lost revenue; while refuges are open for hunting, this seems like a really bad idea. 
  • I’m also starting to hear of significant problems at other bureaus of Interior, so keep an eye out for those developments.
  • Good coverage about the administration’s cuts to parks and their rangers in Outside, featuring Next Interior Fellow Adam Auerbach!
• Sen. Lee of Utah has drafted a bill to move the Forest Service from the Department of Agriculture and to Interior, and create the Trump-proposed Wildland Fire Service at Interior.
  • He’s also out to destroy protections already under assault in the borderlands. As someone who worked on the border for nearly a decade, I can say with certainty, this is bad news.
• Science is not immune from the shutdown or cuts. 
  • Also, check out this great example of US Geological Survey scientists, and their work with others in and out of government, to create essential tools for informed decisionmaking.
• There is some insulation from the shutdown given growing Tribal self-determination, but as NCAI notes, federal cuts and the shutdown will not be good for Indian Country.
  • A good read at the intersection of Indigenous and science matters.
  • If you missed Sunday’s edition and haven’t heard the news out of Alaska or a chance to contribute, you can do so here.

There’s lots more news from the past week at our bookmarks page, which includes a page with jobs.

Messaging

I hear that people really get these basic messages:

• The Trump Administration is attacking the public servants most committed to being stewards of our land, including park rangers, biologists, and maintenance workers. 
• They are firing and ignoring highly qualified wildlife and environmental experts, keeping them from the crucial work they do caring for our public lands. 
• Without these highly qualified experts, our National Park Service and other land and ocean stewards cannot protect our natural places and resources from the corporations who profit from destroying and polluting them. No staff, no service.
• We need to stand up and protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, the parks and green spaces we enjoy and depend on.

Sounds about right. What do you think?

Jobs

The jobs market is…challenging, let’s say…these days. While there are some jobs in the Raindrop bookmarks pages, above, I wanted to flag the Green Jobs Network in particular because they have another thorough listing that many people from Interior—or interested in Interior’s mission—may find helpful this week. No affiliation with Next Interior, just a resource to share:

Data and evidence (teaser)

Next week, we’re going to release the beta version of a tool and a batch of fact sheets—488 of them—about where and how Interior contributes to the Nation, from Alaska and the Pacific territories to Maine, Florida, and Puerto Rico in the east. Here’s a glimpse of the app focused on Arizona 2nd Congressional District, which encompasses much of the Navajo Nation and has an abundance of Bureau of Indian Education schools; over 1.5 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management; about 1 million acres managed by the National Park Service, which contributes nearly $1 billion in economic activity; and more.

Thanks again to Tony for his expertise. Have a great weekend, and we’ll have more to share next week!