A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to reinstate roughly 1,300 Education Department employees after Democrat-led states claimed that their removal violated congressional mandates.
District Judge Myong Joun, an appointee of former President Joe Biden based in Boston, agreed with the blue-state plaintiffs, holding that the administration’s mass removals were not purely discretionary uses of executive power.
“Congress rarely intends to prevent courts from enforcing its directives to federal agencies,” Joun wrote in an 88-page opinion. “For that reason, this Court applies a ‘strong presumption’ favoring judicial review of administrative action.”
The order blocks the Trump administration from enforcing its March executive actions, which aimed to reduce staff at the Education Department, require the rehiring of laid-off staff, and mandate weekly progress reports to the court until the agency is restored to its pre-Jan. 20 state.
Democratic attorneys general from 20 states and the District of Columbia teamed up with school districts and teachers unions who argued the removal decision would cause permanent damage to the department.
Department spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said the Trump administration will “immediately challenge this on an emergency basis.”
“Once again, a far-left judge has dramatically overstepped his authority, based on a complaint from the biased plaintiffs, and issued an injunction against the obviously lawful efforts to make the Department of Education more efficient and functional for the American people,” Biedermann said, arguing the ruling “is not in the best interest of American students or families.”
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has touted the staff removals as one of the department’s “final” missions. However, the administration has made clear that the move is part of a broader policy priority to allow states to better manage their own education programs.
“Education is fundamentally a state responsibility,” McMahon said in March. “Instead of filtering resources through layers of federal red tape, we will empower states to take charge and advocate for and implement what is best for students, families, and educators in their communities.”
In court filings, the Justice Department has contended it would take “an act of Congress to ultimately shutter the Department,” but the agency has also said McMahon has used her “congressionally granted discretion to reduce the headcount at the Department and streamline its operations.”
“This department has vigorously defended President Trump’s executive actions and will continue to do so whenever challenged in federal court,” a DOJ spokesperson told the Washington Examiner.
The decision comes as lower courts have issued a wide range of decisions regarding federal employees, issuing sometimes conflicting opinions that have resulted in tens of thousands of federal workers being fired, rehired, and facing the threat of being fired again.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION LAYOFFS COULD BE A PREVIEW OF BIGGER THINGS TO COME
Earlier this month, a federal district judge in San Francisco blocked large-scale federal layoffs known as “reductions in force” for 14 days in an order implicating 20 federal agencies, including the State, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs departments.
In that case, the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s order blocking mass layoffs.
