President Donald Trump, with the help of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) came in hot and began slashing government waste on Day One of his presidency.

Not surprisingly, the efforts to trim government, including his deferred resignation program for government employees who would rather take a buyout and resign from their positions, was met with fierce legal backlash from unions and other groups.

Despite several court setbacks at the hands of mostly Democrat-appointed federal judges, the Associated Press reported that Trump finally scored a huge legal victory this week regarding the situation.

The judge removed a "key hurdle" in Trump's program that would allow government employees to resign and collect a generous payout, while accomplishing the task of significantly trimming the government workforce.

What happened?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt celebrated the judge's ruling as unions clamored to fight the Trump administration on the issue.

"This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities," Leavitt said.

The program proved to be quite popular, as some 75,000 government employees immediately took advantage of the program before the deadline to resign was closed last week.

The AP noted:

About 75,000 federal workers accepted the offer to quit in return for being paid until Sept. 30, according to McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management. She said the deferred resignation program “provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures,” and it was now closed to additional workers.

The unions fighting the Trump administration on the issue were furious over the decision.

American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley released a statement expressing his frustration.

"Today’s ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants," Kelley said. "But it’s not the end of that fight. Importantly, this decision did not address the underlying lawfulness of the program."

No legal standing

The judge in the case, Boston-based U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr., ruled that since the unions are not directly affected by the program, they don't have legal standing to fight it.

That likely won't stop the unions from continuing their legal assault.

However, it appears that the Trump administration's momentum with the program is going in the right direction.