The fucking judge is just writing a new TRO now, because the union lawyer convinced her the admin is weaseling around with the language that was used in the first TRO. Basically nobody can be RIFed, even if they're not paying union dues.
And the union lawyer wants more unions added to the Plaintiff side as noted previously, JUST TO MAKE SURE NOBODY CAN BE FIRED without violating the TRO. The admin lawyer is trying to put up a fight on adding new plaintiffs and amending the complaint, but she really does seem in over her head. The dude who is part of the Zoom with her has not said a word. Some of the RIFs, such as for the Department of Interior, had started getting worked on months ago, long before the shutdown.
Judge: "Are you still unwilling to tell me what you think about the merits?" And no, the admin lawyer girl is still not prepared for that. Sigh.