President Donald Trump is making good on his campaign pledge to “dismantle the deep state,” with a return-to-office mandate and resignation program designed to reduce the ranks of the federal workforce. He’s directed much of his ire at federal offices in Washington, D.C. and has promised to move some out of the nation’s capital.

A federal judge on Thursday refused to temporarily block the Trump administration’s mass layoff of federal workers while a lawsuit brought by five unions moves forward. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper found the unions must bring their claims under federal employment law rather than in district court.