The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday lifted a lower-court injunction, permitting former President Trump’s administration to resume its plan to lay off nearly 1,400 employees at the U.S. Department of Education, according to an Associated Press report.
A federal judge in Boston had previously blocked the layoffs, calling them likely to “cripple the department,” and temporarily reinstated the affected staff. That injunction was left in place by an appellate panel, but the Supreme Court’s order now allows the downsizing efforts — which include transferring key department functions to other federal agencies — to proceed.
As The Hill reports, the decision was split, with the three liberal justices vociferously dissenting:
The administration’s victory enables the president to move closer to fulfilling of one of his major campaign promises to see the Education Department, created in the 1970s, be eliminated.
The majority did not explain their reasoning, as is typical. The court’s three Democratic-appointed justices dissented, calling their colleagues’ ruling “indefensible.”
“It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is grave,” they continued.
Supporters of the layoffs say it advances Trump’s campaign pledge to shrink federal bureaucracy and return educational oversight to the states.
⚖️ Broader Context & Reaction
- Monday’s ruling fits into a series of high-profile wins for Trump’s executive overhauls: just days prior, the Court also lifted injunctions blocking other large-scale layoffs across agencies like the State Department, Health and Human Services (HHS), and EPA.
- Unions and advocacy groups are preparing new legal challenges. The White House is reportedly reviewing future reduction-in-force (RIF) plans department by department to avoid further court intervention.
➡️ Next Steps
With the Supreme Court’s ruling, the Education Department now plans to proceed with the layoffs and reassign certain functions — especially around student financial aid and civil rights enforcement — to agencies like the Department of Labor or HHS.
Additional legal battles may follow in lower courts.
