The case over the 2024 TSA collective bargaining agreement is now moving on two tracks at once, in two different courts.
This is a genuinely confusing feature of how federal litigation works, and it is worth getting clear.
What the Case Actually Is
Start with what the case actually is. AFGE v. Mullin is one lawsuit with two separate things happening in it.
The lawsuit itself. AFGE is suing to have the termination of the CBA declared unlawful and permanently struck down. That is the merits, the actual question of who wins. It gets decided at trial, and the trial is the thing scheduled for roughly mid-2027. That is the underlying case.
The preliminary injunction. Separately, early on, the court issued a temporary order, the injunction, that keeps the CBA in force while the lawsuit is being fought. It is a holding action. It does not decide who ultimately wins. It just preserves the situation so the CBA is not destroyed before the court can rule on whether destroying it was legal. Think of it as a freeze button pressed at the start, to be released only when the case is actually decided.
The Normal Rule, and the Exception
Now, the normal rule in federal court. You usually cannot appeal anything until the whole case is over. The case finishes at trial, final judgment is entered, and then the losing side appeals. One appeal, at the end. This is called the final judgment rule, and it exists to stop parties from running to the appeals court over every intermediate ruling.
The exception that is in play here. Congress carved out a specific exception in a statute, 28 U.S.C. 1292(a)(1): injunctions can be appealed immediately, before the case is over. The logic is that an injunction has real-world force right now, controlling what people can and cannot do while the case drags on, so a party should not have to wait years for final judgment to challenge it.
The Split
So here is the split. The government asked the district court to dissolve the injunction, to release the freeze. Judge Whitehead said no on July 28. That refusal to dissolve the injunction is one of the things 1292(a)(1) lets you appeal immediately. So the government took just that piece, the injunction question, up to the Ninth Circuit, without waiting for the trial.
That produces the two tracks.
Track one, the Ninth Circuit. The only question up there is whether the injunction should stand or be dissolved. Should the freeze stay on while the case continues?
Track two, the district court. The lawsuit itself, the actual merits, does not go anywhere. It stays with Judge Whitehead and keeps moving toward the mid-2027 trial, where the real question, whether terminating the CBA was lawful, gets decided.
Why they can run at the same time. Because the appeal took only the injunction question. The district court still has the rest of the case in its hands, so it can keep working on it. Unless a court orders otherwise, the district court is free to keep going while the injunction appeal is pending.
An Analogy
Imagine a dispute over whether a building can be demolished. The lawsuit is whether the demolition is legal. That is the trial, and it takes years. Meanwhile, at the very start, the judge issues an order saying nobody touches the building until the court decides. That order is the injunction. The demolition company thinks that freeze order is wrong, so it appeals just the freeze to a higher court, while the main trial keeps grinding along below. Two courts, two questions, at the same time. The higher court decides whether the building stays frozen in the meantime. The trial court decides whether it can ever be torn down.
What This Means
One important consequence is worth knowing. If the Ninth Circuit dissolves the injunction, the CBA loses its protection immediately, even though the lawsuit is still going. That is the stakes of the appeal: the government is trying to strip the CBA's protection now rather than wait to see if it wins at trial.
And conversely, even if the government wins the appeal and the freeze comes off, it has not won the lawsuit. That is still to be decided at trial. The two tracks can come out different ways.
If you want to understand how any of this applies to your own situation, that is a conversation worth having. It costs you nothing. againstgiantsllc.com/get-help.html or info@againstgiantsllc.com