The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow it to move forward with plans to slash employees, cut programs and eliminate responsibilities at the U.S. Department of Education.
BREAKING: Trump admin asks Supreme Court to lift injunction blocking dismantling of Education Department pic.twitter.com/ZxJSoF0g6c
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 6, 2025
Trump admin petitions Supreme Court to allow gutting of Education Department https://t.co/VxCFpWo7a7
— John Solomon (@jsolomonReports) June 6, 2025
The administration has argued for an end to the department and for returning responsibilities to state education agencies as well as local schools and districts.
It argues that the federal bureaucracy is just a burden on education and should be moved out of the way.
A judge in a district court, the entry level for the federal court system, insisted that the government efficiency agenda be halted and hundreds and hundreds of workers be put back on payrolls.
“Each day this preliminary injunction remains in effect subjects the Executive Branch to judicial micromanagement of its day-to-day operations,” explained Solicitor General D. John Sauer.
When Trump announced plans to eliminate what he considered an unneeded and wasteful federal bureaucracy, several Democrat-led states, school districts and teachers’ unions sued.
While the administration has explained it will need congressional action to completely close the agency down, it argues it is working lawfully to reduce staff and transfer functions.
A report at the Washington Examiner said the administration now is asking the high court for permission to go ahead with layoffs.
“In this case, the district court is attempting to prevent the department from restructuring its workforce, despite lacking jurisdiction several times over. Intervention is again warranted,” Sauer told the court.
It was a judge in Massachusetts who said, when Trump sought to reduce the workforce there by some 1,400 jobs, that he would take over that decision-making from the executive branch.
“Sauer argued to the high court that restoring the jobs of the nearly 1,400 people the Trump administration laid off would inflict ‘irreparable harm’ on the administration, ‘insofar as it requires the government to pay salaries it cannot possibly recoup,’” the report said. “He also disputed the claim by the Democratic states suing to block the executive order that the layoffs include people necessary for the department to function as congressionally mandated.”
“That injunction effectively appoints the district court to a Cabinet role and bars the Executive Branch from terminating anyone, even though respondents conceded that some other RIFs would plainly be proper,” Sauer explained.
