George O’Toole of the U.S. District Court ruled that the plaintiffs, several labor unions, lacked a “direct stake” in Trump’s directive.

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. in Boston ruled that the labor unions lacked legal standing to challenge the program.

A federal judge said the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" offer could go forward and about 40,000 federal workers had accepted the deal.