A federal judge says that recent layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were likely unlawful and must be halted. U.S.

Mass layoffs and reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stalled out in federal court, as a judge sided with a coalition of 19 state attorneys general against subagencie | States won a partial block of mass layoffs and the HHS reorganization imposed by the Trump administration in a ruling by a federal district judge Tuesday.

As an office of the executive branch, the Department of Health and Human Services “does not have the authority” to implement sweeping changes to the structure of the agency as created by Congress, a judge wrote.