President Donald Trump has wasted no time in implementing cost-cutting and efficiency initiatives across the federal government, and though he has met significant resistance in the courts, he just notched a notable win.

As Fox News reports, after some earlier bumps in the road, a federal judge on Wednesday reinstated the administration's federal employee buyout offer and its attendant acceptance deadline, finding that the “Democracy Forward” group, which had filed suit on behalf of labor unions, lacked standing to challenge the program.

O'Toole weighs in

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole, who had previously put a temporary block on the administration's ability to enforce a declared Feb. 6 deadline for workers to accept the so-called “Fork in the Road” offer, determined on Wednesday that there was no basis on which to grant the plaintiff's request for an order requiring the government to keep the program deadline open beyond Wednesday evening.

Though O'Toole did not rule on the legality of the offer itself, he opined that the plaintiffs in the case “are not directly impacted by the directive,” and are therefore not entitled to litigate it.

O'Toole wrote that the unions “allege that the directive subjects them to upstream effects including a diversion of resources to answer members' questions about the directive, a potential loss of membership, and possible reputational harm.”

He continued, “The unions do not have the required direct stake in the Fork Directive, but are challenging a policy that affects others, specifically executive branch employees. This is not sufficient.”

The judge further noted that “Aggrieved employees can bring claims through the administrative process. That the unions themselves may be foreclosed from this administrative process does not mean that adequate judicial review is lacking.”

“Fork” offer closes

In the wake of O'Toole's ruling, as Politico, notes, the government now appears poised to begin processing the resignations of those who have accepted the “Fork in the Road” offer.

Under the terms of the program, roughly 2 million federal employees were given the opportunity to resign immediately and still receive salary and benefits for roughly another eight months, according to The Hill.

In extending the offer to federal workers, the administration indicated that those who declined the buyout could face layoffs or significant changes to their work conditions, including the possibility of a mandatory in-office presence.

A representative of the Office of Personnel Management heralded the decision, saying that the agency was “pleased the court has rejected a desperate effort to strike down the Deferred Resignation Program, adding that the program “was carefully designed, thoroughly vetted, and provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures.”

Though O'Toole's ruling represents a definite win for the administration, additional legal wrangling over the buyout scheme has already commenced in the form of a lawsuit filed by a Treasury Department employee union seeking a determination that the plan is illegal.

Uptake numbers roll in

As The Hill noted, a senior Trump administration official revealed not long after O'Toole's ruling that approximately 75,000 employees had signed up to take advantage of the buyout offer, a number that represents nearly 3.75% of the entire federal workforce.

The administration previously indicated its hope that somewhere between 5 and 10% of eligible employees would take the deal, and given the president's determination to effect wholesale change in the ranks of the federal government, it seems all but certain that additional strategies to reach that numerical target will emerge in the coming days and weeks.