Judge rules Trump can downsize federal government with worker buyouts

Legal victory for Republican president is significant progress following string of courtroom setbacks

Donald Trump's buyout program for federal employees can proceed, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. The move paves a path forward for the 65,000 government workers who have volunteered to resign under the president's plan to shrink the federal workforce.

The US district judge George O'Toole Jr in Boston - who halted the so-called Fork in the Road" program last week, before its 6 February deadline, to assess whether it was legal - found that the unions who had sued on behalf of their employees did not have legal standing to challenge the resignation offer because it would not directly affect them. O'Toole did not rule on the legality of the program itself.