Supreme Court Sides With Trump On Dismantling Of Department Of Education

Education Secretary Linda McMahon on the historic SCOTUS ruling that paves the way to downsize the Department of Education: “This lifts the handcuffs of what we’ve been trying to do which is to get education back to the states where the President believes it does belong.”

Abolish the Department of Education. It’s been nothing short of a massive failure.

The order: (Supreme Court).

SCOTUS Blog: The Supreme Court on Monday granted the Trump administration’s request to temporarily pause an order by a federal judge in Massachusetts that would require the Department of Education to reinstate nearly 1,400 employees who were fired earlier this year as part of the department’s efforts to reduce the size of its workforce. In a brief unsigned ruling, the justices blocked the order issued in May by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun, who had concluded that the Trump administration’s “true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department” even though in his view it lacked the power to do so (SCOTUS Blog).

The majority did not provide any explanation of their reasoning on this issue. However, considering the balance of potential harms, the six justices who imposed the stay must think that the Trump administration is likely to win on the merits when the case makes it to their court. And why not? As chief executive, Trump does have the authority to resize inferior agencies, as long as he complies with their enabling statutes and any other statutory requirements Congress has passed regarding their function… This is an interim ruling, but it’s a very clear signal that six justices on the Supreme Court are getting very tired of having 677 supervisors on presidential policy. Finally. (Hot Air).

Wall Street Journal: The ruling is the latest Supreme Court victory for the administration in its efforts to cull the federal workforce. Last week the court said Trump could move forward with layoffs at a number of other agencies. In March, Trump issued an executive order aimed at eliminating the Education Department, which he promised to do during the presidential campaign. McMahon already had begun cutting the department’s head count by roughly half, through a combination of buyouts and planned layoffs (Wall Street Journal).