The Supreme Court on Tuesday cleared the way for the Trump administration to fire federal workers. The big picture: The decision, which lifts a federal judge's earlier order freezing the cuts, gives the administration power to resume its goal of reshaping and scaling back federal agencies.

A U.S. district judge in San Francisco had temporarily blocked large-scale federal layoffs known as "reductions in force."

The justices said they were not ruling on the legality of specific firing plans but simply allowing the administration to launch such efforts while litigation continues.