Under the order, which undermines the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act — a law that came into effect in 1883 to ensure government employees were hired based on merit and protected from political retribution — an estimated 100,000 or more will see their jobs reclassified from "competitive service" to "excepted service."
Under this bureaucratic sleight of hand, a reclassified federal employee engaged, for example, in setting policies for social distancing on public transit systems during the pandemic would have fewer protections from disagreements with the White House. By removing the word "competitive" and replacing it with "excepted," the order eliminates the employee's ability to appeal a dismissal and lumps him or her among political appointees — essentially serving at the pleasure of the President.
While the White House claims the "Executive Order on Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service" would allow government to "operate more efficiently," it would also give a second-term Trump leeway to fire civil servants for being disloyal and fill government positions with his cronies, while giving him more sway on policies ranging from vaccine safety to flight inspection standards.
As Max Stier, president and chief executive of the non-profit, nonpartisan organization Partnership for Public Service, told Stars and Stripes, "The order is highly troubling. It appears to be an effort to remove the career merit protections around a core part of the civil service."
Stier told CNN that the executive order "not only blurs the line between politics and the neutral competency of the career civil service, it obliterates it."
Under the executive order, agency heads have 90 days to review which positions should be reclassified, with the deadline falling on January 19 — the day before the presidential inauguration (final determinations would be due in 210 days).
Depending on how quickly the administration implements the order, a defeated Donald Trump could potentially eliminate the jobs of thousands of American government workers as he exits the Oval Office and replace them with Republican loyalists who could then hold on to positions in government and resist Joe Biden. Even if Biden rescinds the order as the incoming president, trying to reverse Trump's actions will inevitably prove to be a headache.
Legal experts tell me that any way this order plays out in coming weeks, the federal courts are likely to be engaged, where nearly a quarter of federal judges owe their appointments to Donald Trump.
And should Trump win reelection? Make no mistake, the executive order offers the final grounds for a massive remodeling of the United States government by taking aim at what the President views as meddlesome, anti-business administrators and regulators.
The executive order, which applies to career officials involved in "confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating" work, ultimately sends an alarming message to the 9 million workers who make up the federal government, most of whom are based outside of Washi
