Washington DC - A federal appeals court on Wednesday overturned a previous ruling that forced President Donald Trump's administration to reinstate probationary employees who had been fired across the civil service.

The move follows a ruling by the Supreme Court on Tuesday that blocked an order by a Californian judge who last month demanded that 16,000 probationary workers be reinstated due to justifications that he called a "sham."

According to Wednesday's ruling, the Trump administration is "likely to succeed in showing the district court lacked jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ claims, and the Government is unlikely to recover the funds disbursed to reinstated probationary employees."

The ruling was pushed through in a 2-1 vote, with Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III and Judge Allison Jones Rushing – both Republican appointees – ruling in favor of the Trump administration.

Donald Trump Trump threatens Mexico with "escalating consequences" over water dispute

Democratic Attorneys General from about 20 states across the US had brought forward the lawsuit, making the failure a huge blow for Democrats in their attempts to push back against Trump's dismantling of the civil service.

Trump has waged a war on the legal system in recent months, repeatedly and baselessly accusing judges of being corrupt and even ignoring rulings handed down by courts.

When it comes to Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, questions around access to sensitive data and government systems have also been challenged in the court, as well as Musk's wrecking ball approach to firing federal workers.

"This campaign has inflicted immense harms on tens of thousands of probationary employees and their families," read a press release from Attorney General Letitia James released when the Democratic states issued the lawsuit.

"The Trump administration's illegal mass firings of federal workers are a slap in the face to those who have spent their careers serving our country."