The administration had asked the court to step in after a judge in California blocked plans for reductions in force and to reorganize a swath of departments and agencies.

The Supreme Court's conservatives said it was a federal judge in San Francisco, not President Trump, who exceeded her authority.

The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way on Tuesday for President Donald Trump's administration to resume its plans to carry out mass job cuts and the restructuring of agencies, elements of his campaign to downsize and reshape the federal government.