Trump asks Supreme Court to allow further Education Department dismantling

June 6 (UPI) -- Federal officials on Friday filed an application with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to remove a lower court judge's ruling currently prohibiting further dismantling of the Department of Education.

President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon are listed as the applicants on court documents.

The Trump administration is attempting to remove a temporary order instituted last month by U.S. District Court Judge Myong Joun in Massachusetts that forces the federal government to re-hire almost 1,400 fired employees and prohibits further layoffs.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer also asked the Supreme Court to stay Joun's order while it considers the application, which would allow the administration to move forward with its plans to further dismantle the department.

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Joun last month ruled the department, which was created in 1979, "must be able to carry out its functions and its obligations under the [Department of Education Organization Act] and other relevant statutes as mandated by Congress."

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said at the time the federal government would immediately challenge the order "on an emergency basis."

"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, who filed the application on behalf of Trump and McMahon, wrote.

"For the second time in three months, the same district court has thwarted the Executive Branch's authority to manage the Department of Education despite lacking jurisdiction to second-guess the Executive's internal management decisions. This Court curtailed that overreach when the district court attempted to prevent the Department from terminating discretionary grants."

In mid-March, McMahon confirmed nearly half of her department's staff would be placed on leave as part of Trump's plan to eliminate the agency, part of a larger push to cut federal spending.