In Phoenix, the federal courthouse is named after Justice Sandra Day O’Connor: it’s the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse. The General Services Administration (GSA) is the agency charged with running the building. The GSA is currently controlled by DOGE and they’re the ones currently breaking leases on federal offices around the country and trying to sell off, at least as of earlier this week, hundreds of federal buildings including the Departments of Justice, Labor and Health and Human Services.
The Phoenix courthouse houses the judicial branch mostly. But the GSA is still in charge of running the building. So court staff were surprised earlier this week when they found out that all the GSA employees who run the building had been fired. None of the judicial offices, I’m told, had been notified. They only realized what was happening when they noticed some members of the building staff crying.
Seems like a problem, right? Who’s running the building? How’s it going?
I tried calling various numbers at the courthouse to get some official comment but each time I was told someone would call me back. I haven’t heard anything back yet.
However, I did talk to one person at the GSA field office in Phoenix. How’s it going at the building now that the building staff has been fired, I asked?
“We don’t really know yet,” I was told, “It’s day by day.”
That didn’t sound terribly promising. But I did get a few more details. Actually cleaning the offices and fixing the pipes if the plumbing breaks and all or most of the actual services that go into running a large office complex are done by local contractors who work for the GSA staff. So at least the trash isn’t piling up, or not yet. But the local contractors report to the building staff. And they’ve all been fired. I was trying to figure out what the plan is on that front going forward. But like I said, I haven’t been able to get any on the record comment yet.
I’ll bring you more when I find out more.
Are you in Phoenix? Are you at the courthouse? Are you ok? Please contact me on the secure channels below and tell me what’s going on.
