SCOTUS Lets Trump Go Ahead With Gutting Education Department

The Supreme Court let the Trump administration go forward with mass layoffs at the Department of Education.

SCOTUS lifted a lower court order preventing the department from implementing a “reduction in force,” a large-scale federal layoff mechanism, to eliminate around 50% of the department’s workforce.

The court offered no explanation for its decision.

The decision gets Trump closer to his goal of shuttering the Education Department, which has long been a popular target for Republicans and conservative activists. Trump’s assault on the Education Department is part of his wider effort to transform the executive branch in his image.

All three liberal justices dissented in an opinion written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who called the court’s decision “indefensible.” 

“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.

“Lifting the District Court’s injunction will unleash untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended,” Sotomayor continued.

Twenty-one Democratic state attorneys general sued the Trump administration over the Education Department’s RIF, saying the massive reduction would destroy the department’s ability to fulfill its legally-required functions and violate Congress’ authority to establish and determine the scope of federal offices.

In response to the states’ lawsuit, District Judge Myong Joun blocked the layoffs and ordered the Trump administration to reinstate almost 1,400 employees.

After a federal appeals court rejected the Department of Justice’s bid to halt Joun’s order, the Trump administration appealed to the Supreme Court.

In a separate lawsuit, a large coalition of educators, school districts, and unions represented by Democracy Forward* also challenged the RIF.

“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,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said in a statement.

“While this is disappointing, the Trump-Vance administration’s actions to decimate a department established by Congress are still unconstitutional,” Perryman added. “No court in the nation — not even the Supreme Court — has found that what the administration is doing is lawful.”

The Supreme Court’s decision came days after it lifted a separate lower court order preventing other federal agencies from creating their own RIF plans. SCOTUS at that time said it was not weighing in on the legality of mass layoffs at specific agencies.

In a statement, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the court’s decision was a victory and that the department will now carry out the RIF.

“The U.S. Department of Education will now deliver on its mandate to restore excellence in American education,” McMahon claimed, adding that the department’s goal is to “return education to the states.”

In an executive order earlier this year, Trump ordered McMahon to effectively dismantle the department, though he stopped short of officially liquidating it, which would require an act of Congress.

Trump called for the department to be closed to “the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law,” essentially leaving it to exist in name only.

When she announced the RIF, McMahon described it as “the first step on the road to a total shutdown” of the department.

*Democracy Docket Founder Marc Elias is the chair of Democracy Forward’s board.

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