Court lets Trump shrink education agency
The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for President Donald Trump's administration to resume dismantling the Department of Education.
In the latest high court win for Trump, who praised the decision on Truth Social.
The Supreme Court's action came in a brief, unsigned order undoing a move by a federal judge that had reinstated nearly 1,400 laid off workers at the department.
The court also again allowed the administration to transfer key functions of the Department of Education to other federal agencies.
It all enables Trump to move forward with his effort to shrink the federal government's role in education in favor of more control by the states.
The Supreme Court's three liberal justices dissented, with Justice Sonia Sotomayor writing that the court's action had handed the president "the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out."
Democracy Forward, a liberal legal group representing the school districts and unions, said the action, quote, "dealt a devastating blow to this nation's promise of public education for all children."
Meanwhile, Education Secretary Linda McMahon called the action a, quote, "significant win for students and families."
The Department of Education's main roles include administering college loans, tracking student achievement and enforcing civil rights in schools.
It also provides federal funding for needy districts and to help students with disabilities.
The department's Republican critics have portrayed it as a symbol of bureaucratic waste, underlining the need for a smaller federal government in favor of greater state power.
Trump in March sought to deliver on a campaign promise when he signed an executive order to close the department to the, quote, “maximum extent” allowed by law.
Then in May, a Boston-based district judge issued an injunction against Trump’s order, concluding the mass firings would, quote, “likely cripple the department.”
