Supreme Court Green Lights Destruction of Department of Education

Without explanation, from the shadow docket, the Supreme Court gave Donald Trump the go-ahead to gut the Department of Education without the consent of Congress.

The high court reversed federal District Court Judge Myong Joun’s ruling in May that stopped Trump from firing 1378 employees at department while a lawsuit against the gutting of the department makes its way through the courts.

In March, Trump issued an executive order to “eliminate” the Department of Education. He said the department had too much control over educational policy at the state level. The department has no control over school curriculums, enrollment or graduation requirements, lesson plans or staff hiring at schools, community colleges or universities. Its role is financial, such as providing some funding for schools in impoverished areas and educating students with disabilities, and to protect students from discrimination.

As a Congressionally created department, gutting it can only be done by illegally impounding appropriate funds. Closing it down requires the consent of Congress which Trump has not obtained.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Sotomayor wrote:

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. Two lower courts rose to the occasion, preliminarily enjoining the mass firings while the litigation remains ongoing. Rather than maintain the status quo, however, this Court now intervenes, lifting the injunction and permitting the Government to proceed with dismantling the Department. That decision is indefensible. It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out. 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. Unable to join in this misuse of our emergency docket, I respectfully dissent.

and

Lifting the District Court’s injunction will unleash 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.

The President must take care that the laws are faithfully executed, not set out to dismantle them.That basic rule undergirds our Constitution’s separation of powers. Yet today, the majority rewards clear defiance of that core principle with emergency relief.

She added that Trump is infringing on separation of powers.

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Click here to read Sotomayor’s dissent.