Court of Appeals declines to revoke decision blocking large-scale job terminations at the Department of Education.
The Latest on Trump's Plan to Shrink the Department of Education
In a significant development, the Trump administration's ambitious plan to cut down the Department of Education has hit a snag. On Wednesday, the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously refused to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked the administration from essentially paralyzing the department.
This setback is another legal hurdle for President Donald Trump, whose campaigns to streamline the federal government, including through agency dissolutions, have been met with numerous lawsuits. The Department of Education has been a focal point of Trump's second-term agenda. Earlier this year, he kick-started mass layoffs at the agency, tasked with distributing federal aid to schools, managing federal student aid, and enforcing civil rights laws.
The court decision states that the administration has failed to demonstrate the public's interest in allowing a major federal department to operate unlawfully, effectively excluded from executing its statutory duties. Moreover, the administration's attorneys did not provide compelling evidence showing that the widespread layoffs at the department wouldn't prevent it from performing its essential functions.
Last month, US District Judge Myong Joun of the federal court in Boston put a permanent halt to Trump's plans to dismantle the agency and ordered the administration to rehire the fired employees in a lawsuit filed by a teachers' union, schools, states, and education groups. Joun, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, argued that the department cannot be dismantled without Congress's approval. He further stated that the planned layoffs at the agency would likely cripple it.
The Department of Justice swiftly petitioned the Boston-based appeals court to freeze Joun's ruling while they appealed it, arguing that it constituted an extraordinary intrusion on the Executive Branch's authority to manage its workforce. They also expressed concerns about being compelled to retain and pay employees whose services are no longer required and of not recovering the salaries if they win the appeal.
While the status of the appeal at the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals is yet to be determined, the Department of Education's plans to reduce its workforce have been put on hold due to the court order. Affected employees remain on administrative leave, receiving pay and benefits, but have not yet returned to work. The administration has also filed an emergency appeal with the US Supreme Court to pause the order reinstating Department of Education employees, but a decision has not been announced yet.
Politics surrounding war-and-conflicts and policy-and-legislation indicate the Trump administration's controversial plans for the Department of Education continue to face legal challenges. General news reports that the administration's attempts to shrink the department have been halted by a court order, following an appeal filed by education groups and schools, emphasizing the importance of the department's statutory duties and potential impact on the public.
