More than two million federal employees had faced a midnight Thursday deadline to accept the Trump administration's "deferred resignation" offer as O'Toole considered an eleventh-hour request to block the buyout from moving forward. ????? ???????  

Lawyers for the Department of Justice said they would notify every federal employee who is subject to the buyout. ????????????  

The judge described the brief hearing as a "table setting session" just to schedule arguments for Monday afternoon. He did not say anything about the merits of the dispute over the buyout. ?????  

"I enjoined the defendants from taking any action to implement the so-called 'Fork Directive' pending the completion of briefing and oral argument on the issues," said O'Toole. "I believe that's as far as I want to go today." ????? ???????

U.S. District Judge George O'Toole Jr. set a Monday afternoon hearing to consider further blocking the so-called "Fork in the Road" offer. ????????????