The Supreme Court is enabling President Donald Trump to re-initiate his plan to dismantle the Education Department — and carry out firing almost 1,400 staff members. With the court's three liberal justices dissenting, the court on Monday stayed an order from US District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who had issued a preliminary injunction overturning the layoffs and questioning the overall plan. The layoffs "will likely cripple the department," Joun said. A federal appeals court would not stay the order pending the administration's appeal.
The high court lawsuit allows the administration to continue work on winding down the department, a large campaign promise of Trump's.
On a Monday evening post on his social media site, Trump wrote that the supreme court "has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country". He stated that the ruling will enable his administration to start the "very important process" of restoring many of the department's activities "BACK TO THE STATES".
The court did not provide any rationale for its ruling in Trump's favour, as is typical in emergency appeals. But in her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor objected that her peers were facilitating legally suspect action by the administration.
"When the Executive makes public its promise to violate the law, and then follows through with it, it is the Judiciary's responsibility to stop that lawlessness, not accelerate it," Sotomayor wrote on behalf of herself and Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan.
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Education Secretary Linda McMahon called it a "shame" it required the Supreme Court to allow Trump's plan to proceed.
"Today, once more the Supreme Court affirmed the plain truth: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, retains the final authority over staffing levels, administrative structure, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies," McMahon stated in a release.
A lawyer for the Massachusetts cities and education groups that brought the lawsuit over the plan stated the suit will proceed, saying no court has yet held that what the administration seeks to do is legal.
"Without articulating to the American people its rationale, a majority of US Supreme Court justices have delivered a crippling blow to this country's promise of public education for every child. On its shadow docket, the Court has again acted to reverse the ruling of two lower courts without briefing," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, in a statement.
The Supreme Court has handed Trump victory after victory in his quest to reshape the federal government, after lower courts have determined the administration's actions likely violate federal law. Last week, the justices paved the way for Trump's proposal to drastically shrink the federal workforce. On the education front, the high court has already permitted cuts in teacher-training grants to proceed.
In addition on Monday, over 20 states brought suit against the administration over billions of dollars in halted education funding for after-school care, summer camp and others.
Employees at the Education Department who were being targeted by the layoffs have been on leave since March, the union representing some of the agency's workers said.
Joun's directive had kept the department from completely letting them go, although none of them had been permitted to resume work, American Federation of Government Employees Local 252 said. Without Joun's directive, the workers would have been let go in early June.
The Education Department had previously announced in June that it was "actively evaluating how to reintegrate" the workers. They were asked by a department email to report if they had found other jobs, stating the inquiry was intended to "facilitate a smooth and informed return to duty".
The case at hand consists of two consolidated complaints that stated Trump's strategy constituted an unlawful shutdown of the Education Department.
One of the suits was brought by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts and the American Federation of Teachers and other education organisations. The second legal filing was made by a group of 21 Democratic attorneys general.
The suits contended that reducing staff left the department unable to perform duties mandated by Congress, such as responsibilities to assist special education, disperse financial aid and uphold civil rights laws.
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