Justice Dept fires more prosecutors support staff involved in Trump prosecutions AP sources say
Smith ultimately withdrew both cases in November 2024 after Trump's victory, citing a Justice Department legal opinion that protects sitting presidents from federal prosecution. (AP) NB)
(This story has not been edited by TIMEBUSINESSNEWS and is auto-generated from PTI)
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Yahoo
25 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court lets Trump fire hundreds of Education Department workers and dismantle the agency
WASHINGTON − An ideologically divided Supreme Court on July 14 allowed the Trump administration to fire hundreds of workers from the Education Department and continue other efforts to dismantle the agency. The court's three liberal justices opposed the order, the latest win for President Donald Trump at the high court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority handed Trump the power to repeal laws passed by Congress 'by firing all those necessary to carry them out.' 'The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naïve,' Sotomayor wrote in her 19-page dissent, 'but either way the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is great.' The majority did not explain its decision in the brief, unsigned order. The decision came a week after the court allowed the administration to move forward with large-scale staffing cuts at multiple agencies. Trump is trying to fulfill his campaign promise to end the Education Department and move school policy to the states. 'Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and day-to-day operations of federal agencies," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. She said the administration will continue to perform education-related functions required by law while "empowering families and teachers by reducing education bureaucracy." The Education Department workers were placed on administrative leave in March and were to stop receiving salaries on June 9 before a judge intervened at the request of Democratic-led states, school districts and teachers' unions. The government has been spending more than $7 million a month to continue paying the employees who remain unable to work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Massachusetts said the White House's decision to fire more than 1,300 workers has prevented the federal government from effectively implementing legally required programs and services. Such changes can't be made without the approval of Congress, which created the department in 1979, Joun ruled in May. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed that decision. The court said the administration provided no evidence to counter Joun's "record-based findings about the disabling impact" of the mass firings and the transfer of some functions to other agencies. The Justice Department said the Constitution gives the executive branch, not the courts, the authority to decide how many employees are needed. "The Department of Education has determined that it can carry out its statutorily mandated functions with a pared-down staff and that many discretionary functions are better left to the States," Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court. An executive order Trump signed in March directed McMahon to "facilitate the closure of the Department of Education." Republicans have long accused the federal government of holding too much power over local and state education policy, even though the federal government has no control over school curriculum. McMahon announced roughly half the agency's workforce would be eliminated through a combination of mass layoffs and voluntary buyouts. That would have reduced the staff from 4,133 workers when Trump began his second term in January to 2,183 workers. The administration also wants the Small Business Administration to take over student loans and move special education services to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Joun's May 22 order blocked the administration from transferring those functions and required the department to reinstate fired workers. The appeals court said Trump doesn't have to employ as many Education Department workers as the previous administration but can't cut so many that the agency can't function as Congress intended. States challenging the moves said the administration removed nearly all the workers who certify whether colleges and universities qualify for federal student aid programs. And it gutted the department in charge of the data used to allocate billions of dollars to states, lawyers for New York and other states told the Supreme Court. Unless the firings are reversed while the courts are deciding if the administration is acting legally, "it will be effectively impossible to undo much of the damage caused," lawyers for the Democracy Forward Foundation had told the Supreme Court. After the court's decision, Skye Peryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said the group will "aggressively pursue every legal option as this case proceeds to ensure that all children in this country have access to the public education they deserve." The Justice Department had told the Supreme Court that the harms to the government from having to rehire the workers as the litigation continues are greater than any harms the challengers said they'll suffer from diminished department services. The department also opposed the challenge on procedural grounds. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court says Trump can fire Education Department workers
The Hill
27 minutes ago
- The Hill
Netanyahu's coalition is rattled as ultra-Orthodox party announces exit over military draft law
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — An Israeli ultra-Orthodox party that has been a key governing partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early Tuesday it was leaving the coalition government, threatening to destabilize the Israeli leader's rule at a pivotal time in the war in Gaza. United Torah Judaism's two factions said they were bolting the government over disagreements surrounding a bill that would codify broad military draft exemptions for their constituents, many of whom study Jewish texts instead of enlist to the military. The issue has long divided Jewish Israelis, most of whom are required to enlist, a rift that has only widened since the war in Gaza began and demands on military manpower grew. The departure of a party that has long served as a kingmaker in Israeli politics doesn't immediately threaten Netanyahu's rule. But, once it comes into effect within 48 hours, it will leave the Israeli leader with a slim majority in a government that could now more heavily rely on the whims of two far-right parties. Those parties oppose concessions in ceasefire negotiations with Hamas and have themselves quit or threatened to quit the government over moves to end or even pause the war in Gaza. The political shake-up comes as Israel and Hamas are discussing the terms of a truce for the 21-month war in Gaza. Despite heavy pressure by the U.S., Israel's top ally, and mediators Egypt and Qatar, there is no breakthrough yet in the talks. A recurring sticking point has been whether the war ends as part of any truce and Netanyahu's far-right parties oppose ending the war while Hamas remains intact. United Torah Judaism's departure has a window of 48 hours before becoming official, meaning Netanyahu can still find ways to satisfy the party and bring it back into the coalition. But Shuki Friedman, vice president of the Jewish People Policy Institute, said the gaps between the draft law currently on the table and the demands of the party are still wide, making a compromise unlikely during that time. Friedman said the party's departure doesn't immediately put Netanyahu's rule at risk. A vote to dissolve parliament, that would bring down the government and trigger new elections, can't be brought by the opposition until the end of the year because of procedural reasons. And a summer recess for Parliament, beginning later this month and stretching until October, gives Netanyahu another attempt to bridge the gaps and bring the party back into the coalition. Cabinet Minister Miki Zohar, from Netanyahu's Likud party, said he was hopeful the party could be coaxed back to the coalition. 'God willing, everything will be fine,' he said.
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jon Stewart Hits 'MAGA World' With A Brutal Wake-Up Call About The Real Trump
'Daily Show' host Jon Stewart on Monday tore into President Donald Trump for backtracking on the release of files related to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Trump is demanding that people stop talking about Epstein, causing some of the president's most loyal supporters to turn on him. 'Surprisingly, MAGA world, for the first time in memory, isn't just slavishly acquiescing to Trump's reality distortion field,' he said, and played clips of figures on the right trashing the president after the Justice Department said last week that the long-rumored Epstein client list doesn't exist. Stewart said MAGA world is 'in open revolt,' with some even burning their infamous red hats. 'MAGA is losing their shit right now,' he said. 'They cannot believe what they're seeing. Trump is lying? Dismissing reasonable concerns as bad-faith whining? attacking anyone who disagrees?' He offered a message directly to the MAGA-verse. 'As a resident of blue America, can I just say right now to my red colleagues that my pronouns are 'how does' and 'my ass taste,'' he said. 'The Trump that you're just experiencing now, to your deep disappointment and dismay, is the dude we've been dealing with the whole fucking time. You just didn't realize it 'cuz he's been nice to you.' As an example, he showed how Trump treats disasters in red states very differently from those in blue ones, offering quick assistance in Texas after last week's deadly floods, but threatening to withhold aid in California during the fires earlier this year. 'Whatever you need, daddy's here ― because you're the child he wanted,' Stewart told the red states. But the blue ones? 'We're Eric,' he said. See more in his Monday night monologue:
