A federal judge who had ordered the Trump administration to reinstate fired federal probationary employees across the country at more than a dozen agencies has narrowed the scope of his ruling so it now applies to workers in the 19 states and the District of Columbia that challenged the mass dismissals.

The pause is limited to certain states while the case proceeds, narrowing the scope of an earlier order that had paused firings nationwide and led to the reinstatement of thousands of federal employees.