The U.S. Supreme Court has handed President Donald Trump a major legal victory, allowing his administration to proceed with a sweeping plan to dismantle the Department of Education and lay off nearly 1,400 employees.
On Monday, the court halted a lower ruling from U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who had issued a preliminary injunction blocking the layoffs and questioning the legality of Trump’s broader effort to unwind the department. Judge Joun had warned that the plan “will likely cripple the department,” and an appeals court had declined to pause his decision pending appeal.
With the three liberal justices dissenting, the Supreme Court’s unsigned order clears the way for the administration to resume one of Trump’s most controversial campaign promises, returning federal education functions “BACK TO THE STATES.”
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Trump celebrated the decision online Monday night, calling it “a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country.” He added that the ruling enables his administration to begin the “very important process” of decentralizing education oversight.
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As is typical in emergency rulings, the court did not provide a detailed explanation, AP reported. But Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the dissent, sharply criticized the decision. “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,” she wrote, joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon echoed Trump’s praise, calling the court’s action overdue. “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.
But critics of the administration’s plan say the ruling doesn’t resolve whether Trump’s move is legal. Skye Perryman, CEO of Democracy Forward and lawyer for some of the plaintiffs, said litigation will continue. “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. “On its shadow docket, the Court has yet again ruled to overturn the decision of two lower courts without argument.”
The lawsuits, now consolidated, were filed by two school districts in Massachusetts, Somerville and Easthampton, along with the American Federation of Teachers and a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general. They argue Trump’s plan to shutter the Education Department is illegal and would prevent the agency from fulfilling Congressional mandates like administering financial aid, supporting special education, and enforcing civil rights protections.
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The fallout has already begun. Employees targeted by the layoffs have been on paid leave since March, prevented from working by Judge Joun’s order. Without it, they would have been terminated in early June. According to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, the Education Department had been “actively assessing how to reintegrate” those employees, even asking if they had secured other jobs.
Monday’s ruling is the latest in a string of Supreme Court decisions favoring Trump’s aggressive reshaping of the federal government. Just last week, the court gave the green light to reduce the federal workforce, and earlier allowed cuts to teacher-training grants.
Meanwhile, resistance is building. Over 20 states sued the administration separately on Monday over billions of dollars in withheld education funding for programs like after-school care and summer learning.
READ ALSO: U.S. Education Department slashes workforce in Trump’s push to dismantle agency
