"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."
Additionally, the judge wrote that his court "lacks subject matter jurisdiction to consider the plaintiffs’ pleaded claims," noting similar cases where courts were found to have lacked authority.
"Aggrieved employees can bring claims through the administrative process," O'Toole said. "That the unions themselves may be foreclosed from this administrative process does not mean that adequate judicial review is lacking."
In a statement to Fox News, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the decision "the first of many legal wins for the President."