Trump administration asks Supreme Court to leave mass layoffs at Education Department in place
WASHINGTON — President Trump's administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to pause a court order to reinstate Education Department employees who were fired in mass layoffs as part of his plan to dismantle the agency.
The Justice Department's emergency appeal to the high court said U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston exceeded his authority last month when he issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs of nearly 1,400 people and putting the broader plan on hold.
Joun's order has blocked one of the Republican president's biggest campaign promises and effectively stalled the effort to wind down the department. A federal appeals court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed.
The judge wrote that the layoffs 'will likely cripple the department.'
But Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote Friday that Joun was substituting his policy preferences for those of the Trump administration.
The layoffs help put in the place the 'policy of streamlining the department and eliminating discretionary functions that, in the administration's view, are better left to the states,' Sauer wrote.
He also pointed out that the Supreme Court in April voted 5-4 to block Joun's earlier order seeking to keep in place Education Department teacher-training grants.
The current case involves two consolidated lawsuits that said Trump's plan amounted to an illegal closure of the Education Department.
One suit was filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in Massachusetts along with the American Federation of Teachers and other education groups. The other suit was filed by a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general.
The suits argued that layoffs left the department unable to carry out responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special education, distribute financial aid and enforce civil rights laws.
Education Department employees who were targeted by the layoffs have been on paid leave since March, according to a union that represents some of the agency's staff. Joun's order prevents the department from fully terminating them, but none have been allowed to return to work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252. Without Joun's order, the workers were scheduled to be terminated Monday.
Trump has made it a priority to shut down the Education Department, though he has acknowledged that only Congress has the authority to do that. In the meantime, Trump issued a March order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to wind it down 'to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law.'
Trump later said the department's functions will be parceled to other agencies, suggesting that federal student loans should be managed by the Small Business Administration and programs involving students with disabilities would be absorbed by the Department of Health and Human Services. Those changes have not yet happened.
The president argues that the Education Department has been overtaken by liberals and has failed to spur improvements to the nation's lagging academic scores. He has promised to 'return education to the states.'
Opponents note that K-12 education is already mostly overseen by states and cities.
Democrats have blasted the Trump administration's Education Department budget, which seeks a 15% budget cut including a $4.5 billion cut in K-12 funding as part of the agency's downsizing.
Sherman writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Collin Binkley contributed to this report.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
31 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk, Who Called Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' A 'Disgusting Abomination,' Responds To Coinbase CEO's Warning That Bitcoin Could Replace Dollar If Congress Isn't Held Accountable
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk signaled agreement with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong's warning Wednesday that government overspending could lead to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) replacing the dollar as the reserve currency. What happened: Armstrong was responding to a post by World of Statistics that highlighted the alarming rise of U.S. federal debt in the last few years. The debt has ballooned to $36.9 trillion in 2025. "If the electorate doesn't hold Congress accountable to reducing the deficit and start paying down the debt, Bitcoin is going to take over as reserve currency," Armstrong said. Trending: — no wallets, just price speculation and free paper trading to practice different cryptocurrency mogul said that while he loves Bitcoin, he also desired a 'strong America' that is fiscally responsible. Musk responded to Armstrong's arguments with a U.S. flag emoji, indicating an It Matters: Musk has lashed out at the latest congressional spending bill, describing it as a 'disgusting abomination.' The White House has dismissed the criticism, stating that the bill does not contribute to the deficit. The House passed the $3.8 trillion tax-and-spending package, which President Donald Trump calls the "big, beautiful bill." While it promises an immediate economic boost through wide tax cuts and higher defense spending, market analysts warn of serious long-term fiscal ramifications. Entrepreneur and investor Anthony Pompliano stated last month that concerns about debt and inflation could fuel Bitcoin's growth. Read Next: New to crypto? Get up to $400 in rewards for successfully completing short educational courses and making your first qualifying trade on Coinbase. A must-have for all crypto enthusiasts: Sign up for the Gemini Credit Card today and earn rewards on Bitcoin Ether, or 60+ other tokens, with every purchase. Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock/Joshua Sukoff This article Elon Musk, Who Called Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' A 'Disgusting Abomination,' Responds To Coinbase CEO's Warning That Bitcoin Could Replace Dollar If Congress Isn't Held Accountable originally appeared on
Yahoo
39 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump-Musk row fuels 'biggest crisis ever' at Nasa
The row between Donald Trump and Elon Musk over a major spending bill has exacerbated uncertainty over the future of Nasa's budget, which is facing deep cuts. The space agency has published its budget request to Congress, which would see funding for science projects cut by nearly a half. Forty science missions, which are in development or in space already, are in line to be stood down. The president has threatened to withdraw federal contracts with Musk's company, Space X. Nasa relies on the firm's Falcon 9 rocket fleet to resupply the International Space Station with crew and supplies. The space agency also expects to use its Starship rocket to send astronauts to the Moon and eventually to Mars once it has been developed. Dr Simeon Barber, a space scientist at the Open University said that the uncertainty was having a "chilling impact" on the human space programme. "The astonishing exchanges, snap decisions and U turns we've witnessed in the last week undermine the very foundations that we build our ambitions on. "Space science and exploration relies upon long term planning and cooperation between government, companies and academic institutions." Aside from the feud between the President and Mr Musk, there is also concern about deep cuts requested by the White House to Nasa's budget. All sectors have been earmarked for savings, apart from an effort to send astronauts to Mars, which has received a $100m (£736,000) boost. According to Casey Dreier, chief of space policy for the Pasadena-based Planetary Society, which promotes space exploration, the potential cuts represent "the biggest crisis ever to face the US space programme". Nasa has said that its request to reduce its overall budget by nearly a quarter "aligns (its) science and technology portfolios to missions essential for the exploration of the Moon and Mars". Dr Adam Baker, a space analyst at Cranfield University told BBC News that if these proposals are approved by Congress, it would fundamentally shift the agency's focus. "President Trump is repurposing Nasa for two things: to land astronauts on the Moon before the Chinese and to have astronauts plant a US flag on Mars. Everything else is secondary." Those who back the proposals say the White House's budget has given Nasa a clear purpose, for the first time since the days of the Apollo Moon landings of the 1960s and 70s, when the aim was to beat the Soviet Union to the Moon. Nasa's critics say that since then the space agency has become a bloated, unfocussed bureaucracy which routinely goes massively over budget in its space missions and wastes taxpayer's money. One of the most egregious examples of this is Nasa's new rocket for its plans to return American astronauts to the Moon, the Space Launch System (SLS). Its development has been delayed, and costs have spiralled such that it costs $4.1bn (£3.3bn) for each and every launch. By contrast, SpaceX's equivalent rocket system, Starship, is estimated to cost around $100m (£80m) per launch because it is designed to be reusable. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin space company promises similar savings for its proposed New Glenn rocket. To no one's surprise, SLS will be phased out under the White House proposals, in the hope that Starship and New Glenn can take its place. But the past three development launches of Starship have been unsuccessful, and Blue Origin has only recently begun to test its Moon rocket. "The worry is that Nasa may be jumping out of the frying pan, into the fire," says Dr Barber. "The development of these alternatives to SLS is being bankrolled by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. "If they lose their appetite for this endeavor and SpaceX or Blue Origin say they need more money to develop their systems, Congress will have to give it to them," says Dr Barber. Nasa needs saving from itself – but is this billionaire right for that job? Of greater concern, says Dr Barber, is the potential loss of 40 missions to explore other planets and to monitor the impact of climate change on Earth from space, many of which involve collaborations with international partners. "I think it is very sad that what has taken so long to build can be knocked down with a wrecking ball so quickly with no plan to rebuild it afterwards." The projects facing the axe include dozens of planetary missions already in space for which most of the development and launch costs have already been paid for, with relatively small savings proposed on their operating costs. Also under threat are two collaborations with the European Space Agency: An ambitious plan to bring martian rocks collected by Nasa's Perseverance Rover back to Earth and a mission to send Europe's Rosalind Franklin Rover to the red planet to search for signs of past life. Prof Sir Martin Sweeting, head of the UK space firm Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, and co-author of a Royal Society report on the future of space says that while the development was "unwelcome", there may be an upside for Europe as it takes greater responsibility for its own space exploration programme. "Maybe we have been too reliant on Nasa the big player to carry a lot of the emphasis in space," he told BBC News. "It is an opportunity to think about how Europe wants to get a better balance in its space activities." But there is much more downside for Europe in the short term. As well as the return of Mars samples and its Rover, ESA risks reduced access to the International Space Station if it is wound down, and the budget cuts cancel Nasa's extensive contributions to its successor, the Lunar Gateway, a multinational space station planned for orbit around the Moon. In its recently published strategy ESA stated it "will be seeking to build a more autonomous space capability, and to continue being a reliable, strong and desirable partner with space agencies from around the globe," with the implication that it would do so with or without Nasa. Also facing cuts are numerous current and proposed Earth Observation programmes according to Dr Baker. "These Earth observation programmes are our canary in the coal mine," he told BBC News. "Our ability to predict the impact of climate change and mitigate against it could be drastically reduced. If we turn off this early warning system it is a frightening prospect". The budget proposals have yet to be approved by Congress. The planetary Society's Casey Dreier has told BBC News that many Republicans have told lobbyists privately that they are prepared to vote against the cuts. But, Mr Dreier worries that there is a strong possibility that political gridlock might mean that no budget will be agreed. It is likely that the reduced White House budget would be put in place as an interim measure, which could then not easily be reversed, because once space missions are turned off it is hard, if not impossible, to start them up again.
Wall Street Journal
an hour ago
- Wall Street Journal
DOGE Staffers Fear Getting DOGE'd Themselves
WASHINGTON—In the aftermath of President Trump's epic falling out with Elon Musk, staffers within the Department of Government Efficiency face an ironic position after spending months paring back jobs and spending: They now fear being DOGE'd. The White House is publicly standing behind its work with DOGE. Nonetheless, the public feud between Trump and Musk has rattled rank-and-file DOGE employees, who worry the government-cutting effort—and their jobs—could be in jeopardy.
