The Supreme Court on Monday gave the green light for the Trump administration to restart his plan to dismantle the Department of Education and proceed with laying off nearly 1,400 employees.
The decision came as part of an emergency appeal, with the Court’s conservative majority allowing the administration to move forward despite lower court rulings that had blocked the effort.
The high court’s unsigned decision put a temporary pause on an earlier ruling by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun of Boston, who issued a preliminary injunction halting the layoffs and casting doubt on the legality of the entire plan.
Judge Joun warned that the proposed layoffs would “likely cripple the department,” arguing that they would prevent the agency from fulfilling its congressional mandates.
A federal appeals court had upheld Joun’s injunction, but the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court, which overruled the lower courts.
The Supreme Court did not provide a written explanation for its ruling, which is typical for emergency actions. However, the Court’s three liberal justices—Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson—issued a strongly worded dissent.
Writing for the trio, Justice Sotomayor accused the majority of enabling a lawless executive agenda. “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.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon praised the Supreme Court’s intervention, calling it a long-overdue affirmation of executive authority. “Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies,” she said in a statement.
Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one of the legal organizations representing education advocacy groups, criticized the ruling as a setback for public education. “Without explaining to the American people its reasoning, a majority of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have dealt a devastating blow to this nation’s promise of public education for all children,” Perryman said.
The current case is a consolidation of two lawsuits. One was filed by the school districts of Somerville and Easthampton in Massachusetts, alongside the American Federation of Teachers and other educational organizations.
The other was brought by a coalition of 21 Democratic state attorneys general. Both suits contend that Trump’s plan effectively shuts down the Education Department, which they argue is illegal without congressional approval.
The lawsuits assert that the layoffs would prevent the department from carrying out essential functions, such as supporting special education programs, enforcing civil rights laws, and distributing federal financial aid to students. They further argue that Congress never authorized the executive branch to eliminate a cabinet-level department through administrative means alone.
In a parallel development, more than 20 states filed another lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday. That suit focuses on billions of dollars in education funds that have been frozen, affecting after-school programs, summer learning initiatives, and other supplemental education efforts.
Adding to the confusion, many of the Education Department employees targeted for layoffs had been on paid leave since March. Although Judge Joun’s injunction had temporarily protected them from termination, they were not allowed to return to work.
According to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, without the court’s intervention, the workers would have been officially terminated in early June.
The Education Department sent out an email to affected employees in early June, asking them to disclose whether they had found other employment.
The message stated that this information would help “support a smooth and informed return to duty,” suggesting the department was, at least temporarily, considering reintegrating the employees.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has clashed with the courts over its efforts to reshape the federal bureaucracy. Just last week, the Supreme Court upheld a separate Trump initiative to slash the size of the federal workforce. The high court has also previously allowed the administration to cut teacher-training grants and other education-related funding.
In the meantime, the administration appears poised to accelerate its efforts. Secretary McMahon has indicated that her department will proceed swiftly with the restructuring and layoffs now that the legal obstacles have been cleared.