On July 14, the Supreme Court decided that the Trump administration can proceed with its plan to dismantle the Department of Education by gutting its workforce.
1,300 workers will be terminated according to this Trump plan. Combined with resignations and the removal of probationary workers, the independent agency will have half of the 4,000 workers it had at the start of 2025.
This case may very well be seen by historians as a landmark one. It is a significant victory for the notion of an imperial presidency, as it allows the executive branch to unilaterally and effectively dismantle independent agencies created by Congress. This ruling compliments the one made on July 8, which also allowed Trump to eviscerate the federal workforce.
However, the ruling may not be as absolute as it appears.
The order is technically temporary, in effect only while courts continue to consider the legality of Mr. Trump’s move. In practice, fired workers whom a Boston judge had ordered be reinstated are now again subject to removal from their jobs.
The New York Times
Judge Myong J. Joun of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts questioned the legality of the attempt to destroy the department. She noted that, just because a “skeleton crew” remained, it does not mean that the Trump administration is carrying out the legally mandated mission that Congress gave to the executive branch.
The Secretary of the Department of Education, Linda McMahon, has bizarrely applauded the destruction of her own department. She cited the need for “efficiency,” but did not elaborate on how reducing the workforce or transferring federal authority over education to the states would improve education in the country.
