America's National Science Foundation workers fired in bulk by Trump reinstated

The US government's National Science Foundation has reinstated most of its cadre of probationary employees after laying them off en masse last month. 

The decision to bring them back comes in the wake of a California federal court ruling [PDF] that found similar government layoffs – which stemmed from a cost-cutting executive order by President Donald Trump, and carried out by Uncle Sam's HR policy outfit, the Office of Personnel Management – were made beyond the OPM's authority and thus unlawful.

That's the same exec order that led to widespread workforce cuts across the federal government, steered by Elon Musk's Trump-blessed DOGE unit and the OPM, the latter of which is primarily supposed to just set policies and standards rather than hire and fire people directly.

Referring to Friday's ruling by our old pal Judge William Alsup, as well as a rethink by the OPM on ...