The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration could, for the time being, proceed with mass layoffs at the Department of Education amid the ongoing legal challenge to dissolve the department entirely.
The decision comes after a federal judge blocked a Trump
executive order
that directed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to begin taking “all necessary steps” to close the department and “return authority over education to the States and local communities.”
“While today’s ruling is a significant win for students and families, it is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities granted to him by the U.S. Constitution,” McMahon said in a
statement
.
Over 1,300 employees, who made up half of the department’s
workforce
, were fired as part of a “reduction in force” campaign
initiated
by McMahon just one week following her confirmation in early March. The lower court ruling ordered the reinstatement of fired employees and a halt to the termination of department staff.
These workforce cuts resulted in the closure of more than half of the Office of Civil Rights’ 12 field offices, including the Texas regional office in Dallas, according to
NPR
.
McMahon said in a statement following the Monday decision that President Trump had “the ultimate authority” to make decisions about the operations of federal agencies, including staffing levels and administrative organization.
Established in 1979 through congressional action, the Department of Education is
responsible
for administering federal education policy and programming, including student financial aid, research funding for higher education institutions and grants for public K-12 schools.
In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote that “only Congress” had the power to abolish the department.
“When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it,” Sotomayor wrote. “Rather than maintain the status quo, however, this Court now intervenes, lifting the injunction and permitting the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department. That decision is indefensible.”
