As part of his effort to demolish the Education Department, President Donald Trump’s administration urged the Supreme Court on Friday to halt a court ruling that would have reinstated workers who were laid off in huge layoffs.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston overreached himself last month when he issued a preliminary injunction halting the layoffs of around 1,400 employees and postponing the larger plan, according to the Justice Department’s emergency appeal to the top court.
The plan to shut down the department has been essentially put on hold by Joun’s ruling, which has stymied one of the Republican president’s major campaign pledges. While the administration filed an appeal, a federal appeals court declined to halt the order.
The cutbacks “will likely cripple the department,” the court wrote.
On Friday, however, Solicitor General D. John Sauer stated that Joun was replacing the Trump administration’s policy choices with his own.
The “policy of streamlining the department and eliminating discretionary functions that, in the administration’s view, are better left to the states” is implemented in part by the layoffs, according to Sauer.
Additionally, he noted that Joun’s previous order to maintain the Education Department’s teacher-training grants was blocked by the Supreme Court in April by a vote of 5–4.
Two pooled lawsuits that claimed Trump’s plan amounted to an unlawful closing of the Education Department are at the center of the present case.
Together with the American Federation of Teachers and other education organizations, the Massachusetts school districts of Somerville and Easthampton filed one lawsuit. A coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general filed the other lawsuit.
The lawsuits contended that the department’s cutbacks prevented it from fulfilling congressionally mandated obligations, such as distributing financial aid, enforcing civil rights laws, and supporting special education.
A union that represents some of the Education Department’s employees claims that those who were targeted by the layoffs have been on paid leave since March.
The American Federation of Government Employees Local 252 claims that although Joun’s injunction stops the department from firing them completely, none of them have been permitted to resume their jobs.
The employees were set to be let go on Monday without Joun’s consent.
On Friday, the Department of Education announced that it is “actively assessing how to reintegrate” the staff members. In order to “support a smooth and informed return to duty,” the department requested in an email issued Friday if they had secured new employment.
Although he has admitted that only Congress has the power to do so, Trump has made closing the Education Department a top objective.
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To wind it down “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law,” Trump instructed Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a March order.
In a subsequent statement, Trump stated that the department’s operations would be divided among other departments, proposing that the Small Business Administration handle federal student loans and the Department of Health and Human Services handle programs for students with disabilities. As of yet, those changes have not occurred.
According to the president, the Education Department has been dominated by liberals and has not been able to improve the country’s declining academic performance. He has pledged to “give education back to the states.”
K–12 education is already mostly governed by states and cities, according to critics.
Democrats have attacked the Trump administration’s proposed 15% budget cut for the Education Department, which includes a $4.5 billion decrease to K–12 funding as part of the agency’s downsizing.
