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A divided Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to sharply shrink the Education Department, one of the cornerstones of the president’s efforts to radically downsize the federal government.
The justices lifted a temporary lower-court ruling that prevented Trump officials from slashing about a third of the department’s more than 4,100 workers and shifting some of its functions to the states and other departments.
As is common with cases decided on the emergency docket, the majority did not explain its rationale for the decision. The court’s three liberals noted their dissent from the ruling.
Trump has said he wants to close the department because it would allow “children and their families the opportunity to escape a system that is failing them,” but administration officials acknowledge that would require legislation because Congress created the department. He has also argued trimming the department would make it more efficient and increase accountability.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon initiated the largest job cut in the department’s history in March, soon after she was sworn in. Officials said more than 1,300 workers would be laid off and about 600 others had accepted offers to leave.
Soon after, Trump issued an executive order directing McMahon to “take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.” He has also said he intends to move the federal student loan and special needs programs out of the department.
The department has plans to eliminate office space in San Francisco, New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Cleveland, as well as consolidate staff from three buildings to one in D.C.
President Donald Trump is facing about 250 lawsuits over his executive orders. We’re tracking some of the Trump administration’s biggest actions being challenged in court.
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Trump officials have said the cuts would affect every aspect of the department’s operation, but it will continue its statutorily required functions. McMahon requested an appropriation of more than $66 billion for next year’s budget in June.
But more than 20 states, teachers’ unions and school districts filed lawsuits in March that were later consolidated. They said in a filing with the Supreme Court that the cuts would effectively strip the department “down to the plywood” with deleterious effects on schools, districts and children across the country. They contend the department can no longer carry out the functions Congress has mandated.
“The cuts gutted Department operations, without regard for work continuity,” the challengers wrote in their Supreme Court filing. “The Department’s subsequent organizational chart shows an agency left in ruin, with numerous offices wiped off the chart or reduced to the top leadership positions explicitly created by Congress with no staff to carry out the work.”
A federal judge in Massachusetts agreed with that assessment in May, issuing a preliminary injunction that required the Trump administration to rehire all staff that were cut and reset all changes made at the department to what existed before Trump took office.
U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun, a Biden appointee, wrote testimonials by department employees and others “paint a stark picture of the irreparable harm” the cuts would cause if not reversed, particularly on vulnerable students.
“Prior to the [reduction in force], the Department was already struggling to meet its goals, so it is only reasonable to expect that an RIF of this magnitude will likely cripple the Department,” Joun wrote.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit affirmed that decision earlier this month, before Trump officials filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court seeking to put a hold on the ruling. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the courts had overreached.
“The Constitution vests the Executive Branch, not district courts, with the authority to make judgments about how many employees are needed to carry out an agency’s statutory functions, and whom they should be,” Sauer wrote.
The Education Department was created in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter. It is responsible for administering the $1.6 trillion federal student loan program, grants to elementary and secondary schools, achievement tests and civil rights laws in schools.
The case is the second emergency appeal to go before the Supreme Court dealing with education issues. In April, a divided court allowed the Trump administration to freeze up to $65 million in grants to alleviate teacher shortages, which the administration said promoted diversity, equity and inclusion.
Separately, the high court also allowed the administration to go forward with mass layoffs of thousands of employees.
https://www.washingtonpos(...)ucation-department-/