U.S. Supreme Court allows mass firings at Education Department
· UPIJuly 14 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to proceed with mass firings at the Department of Education by lifting an injunction while litigation proceeds in the courts.
In March, the agency's workforce was slashed in half, 1,378 employees, in an effort by Trump to ultimately dismantle the agency.
The vote was 6-3 with all the liberal judges dissenting. The conservatives didn't issue an opinion as is customary in an emergency ruling but Justice Sonia Storomayor wrote a dissent that was joined by Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
U.S. District Judge Myonmg Juon, serving in Massachusetts, blocked the firings in May, determining that congressional authorization was needed. Juon was appointed by President Joe Biden.
Ultimately, the justices could rule on the firings. The 9th U.S. Circuit of Courts is hearing the Trump administration's appeal.
"That decision is indefensible," Sotomayor wrote in a 17-page dissent. "It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out. The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave."
She explained the importance of the agency.
"The Department is responsible for providing critical funding and services to millions of students and scores of schools across the country," 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, another civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended."
In March, Trump signed an executive order to dismantle the agency, which was created in 1979 when Jimmy Carter was president.
"We're going to be returning education back to the states where it belongs," Trump said at the time. "They want it so badly. They want to take their children back and teach their children."
Student loans would be serviced by Small Business Administration and funding would be redistributed to other agencies and departments.
The proposal fiscal year 2026 Education Department's budget is $66.7 billion, which is a 15.3% reduction from the past year.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the layoffs would resume.
"While today's ruling is a significant win for students and families, it is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities grant to him by the U.S. Constitution," she said in a statement.
When Trump nominated McMahon for the position, he said he hoped she will "put herself out of a job."
Solicitor General John Sauer said in a court filing the "reduction in force" of the employees is not part of plans to eliminate the department. Sauer said that is the job of Congress.
The plaintiffs were two separate coalitions of Democratic-led states, school districts and unions.
"No court in the nation -- to even the Supreme Court -- has found that what the administration is doing is lawful," Sky Perrman, president of the Democracy Forward, which represents school districts and unions suing, said in a statement.
Last week, the justices voted 8-1, with Brown Jackson the lone dissenter, to resume layoffs at 21 other agencies. The court said the administration would likely succeed against the lawsuit.