The Supreme Court on Monday voted to allow President Donald Trump to continue his effort to fire 1,400 federal employees at the Department of Education.
In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court, with three liberal justices dissenting, paused an order from a U.S. District judge who issued a preliminary injunction to reverse the layoffs in the department.
Trump’s Secretary of Education Linda McMahon hailed the ruling as an ‘obvious’ decision from the court, citing the president’s authority to control cabinet agencies in the executive branch.
‘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,’ McMahon said in a statement.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the dissent, warning that the judiciary had a responsibly to check the executive branch from breaking the law.
‘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,’ Sotomayor wrote. Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan joined her dissent.
In March, the Departmnet of Education announced their decision to cut nearly 1,400 employees from the agency, nearly half of the agency’s staff, and terminating leases on buildings in several major American cities.
McMahon defended her decision to cut the positions from her department, as part of President Donald Trump’s overall goal to shut down the federal agency and return federal funding to the states.
President Donald Trump called on Education Secretary Linda McMahon to shut down the department and return funds to the states
Education Secretary Linda McMahon testifies in front of a Senate subcommittee
She described the cuts as the ‘first step of eliminating of what I think is bureaucratic bloat’ in a recent interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
‘When I got there, I said, “Okay we have to identify where the bloat is where the bureaucracy is and start there,”‘ she recalled.
McMahon famously closed federal education buildings, as workers found themselves unable to go to work as they waited to find out the future of their job at the department.
McMahon’s bold decision was blocked by U.S. District Judge Myong Joun, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, who ruled in May that the firings would ‘cripple the department’ and ordered affected workers to be reinstated.
President Donald Trump holds a signed an executive order with Education Secretary Linda McMahon in the Oval Office
National Education Association President Becky Pringle joins parents, educators, community leaders, and elected officials at a rally outside the U.S. Capitol to defend public education
Trump appointed McMahon, former CEO of the WWE, as the department secretary as he wanted a tough business person who could cut and reform the agency.
‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job,’ Trump recalled telling her, when he selected her for the position.
At one point, the Department of Education employed over 4,000 employees and has a budget of $80 billion.
Trump’s efforts to slash the agency has earned sharp rebuke from federal teacher’s unions, who continue to challenge the decision.