The Supreme Court delivered a significant victory to President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday, allowing the Department of Education to proceed with mass layoffs that could reshape the federal agency's role in American schooling. The decision, issued 6-3 along ideological lines, temporarily lifts a lower court's order that had reinstated roughly 1,400 employees and halted Trump's plans to downsize and ultimately dismantle the department.
The legal dispute stems from McMahon v. State of New York, one of two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration's reduction-in-force initiative. Earlier this year, Secretary McMahon cut the Education Department workforce by half, as part of what Trump described in a March executive order as a move to eventually "shutter the department altogether." The layoffs faced immediate opposition from 20 Democrat-led states, teachers unions, and school districts, who argued that the department's creation by Congress meant only Congress could dissolve it.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing in a forceful dissent joined by the court's two other liberals, called the majority's ruling "indefensible." Sotomayor stated, "When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary's duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it." She warned, "The record unambiguously refutes" the administration's arguments, adding, "Neither the President nor Secretary McMahon made any secret of their intent to ignore their constitutional duties. President Trump repeatedly called for the immediate abolition of the Department both during his campaign and after taking office."
US District Judge Myong Joun, who initially blocked the mass layoffs, noted that Trump's plan "will likely cripple" the department, which is responsible for distributing federal aid to schools, overseeing college student loans, and enforcing civil rights laws. "The record abundantly reveals that defendants' true intention is to effectively dismantle the department without an authorizing statute," Joun wrote.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in a statement following the Supreme Court's decision, called it a "significant win for students and families." She added, "We will carry out the reduction in force to promote efficiency and accountability and to ensure resources are directed where they matter most - to students, parents, and teachers." McMahon argued the administration's approach will "empower families and teachers by reducing education bureaucracy."
The Trump administration told the Supreme Court that its actions at the Education Department constituted "internal management decisions" and involved "eliminating discretionary functions that, in the administration's view, are better left to the states." Administration lawyers asserted that the department will continue to perform its statutory duties, albeit with a far smaller staff.
The First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously declined to reverse Judge Joun's injunction earlier this June, prompting Trump's appeal to the Supreme Court. Monday's order means the layoffs can proceed while the case continues in lower courts.
Justice Sotomayor warned of "untold harm, delaying or denying educational opportunities and leaving students to suffer from discrimination, sexual assault, and other civil rights violations without the federal resources Congress intended." She further wrote, "The majority apparently deems it more important to free the Government from paying employees it had no right to fire than to avert these very real harms while the litigation continues."
