Trump requests that the Supreme Court reinstate 1,400 Education Department layoffs that a judge has blocked

Trump asked the Supreme Court to restore the widespread layoffs in the Education Department that had been stopped by a federal judge’s broad injunction.

After a federal judge delayed the move, the Trump administration has called on the US Supreme Court to step in and restore roughly 1,400 layoffs at the Department of Education, claiming that the action might be disastrous for the agency’s operations.

The Justice Department asked the high court to halt a preliminary injunction ordered by US District Judge Myong Joun in Boston in an emergency motion filed on Friday. The judge’s decision put a stop to President Donald Trump’s attempt to drastically reduce the size of the Education Department, which was a key campaign pledge.

Judge Joun had overreached himself, according to Solicitor General D. John Sauer, by meddling in executive policy choices. Sauer justified the layoffs in the court brief, arguing that they were a part of a larger effort to “streamline” the department and return responsibility for education to the states.

The job cuts might “probably cripple the department,” Joun said in his May ruling, and he halted Trump’s intention to shut down the department. Since then, an appeals court has declined to revoke that injunction.

Two lawsuits are at the heart of this case. The American Federation of Teachers and Massachusetts school districts filed one, while 21 Democratic attorneys general filed the other.

Both contend that the plan would paralyze vital operations including allocating student financial aid, assisting special education programs, and upholding civil rights legislation in schools, and that it amounts to an illegal shutdown of a federal agency.

In a separate lawsuit, the Supreme Court has already narrowly ruled against the government, blocking Trump’s plan to terminate teacher-training funding from the Education Department in an April 5–4 decision.

The Supreme Court is currently faced with a judgment that could test the boundaries of presidential authority over federal agencies and change the direction of the Education Department as the legal dispute intensifies.