The judge's ruling blocks the government from firing half the DOE's workforce.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty ImagesThe order from Judge Joun -- a Biden appointee -- also prohibits the Department of Education from transferring the management of federal student loans to the Small Business Administration.
The decision marks the first time a federal judge has determined the Trump administration's sweeping changes to the Department of Education are unlawful. For now, the order puts a stop to the Trump administration's effort to fire more than 2,000 Department of Education employees, transfer federal student loan obligations, and otherwise implement the president's March 20 executive order to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education." A group that includes several state attorneys general, schools, and nonprofits challenged Trump's efforts to reduce the size of the Department of Education last month, arguing the president cannot unilaterally shut down a federal department created by Congress. Lawyers for the Trump administration argued that the efforts to reduce the Department of Education would make it more efficient, and were separate from Trump's vow toJudge Joun was unconvinced. His decision offered a blistering assessment of the Trump administration's claim that recent changes to the Department of Education are to improve efficiency, rather than carry out Trump's vow to abolish the Department outright.The changes imposed by Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Judge Joun wrote, "effectively impossible for the Department to carry out its statutorily mandated functions." Though Trump has the authority to remove executive officers, the president does not have the power to dismantle entire federal departments outright, he wrote. He also cast doubt on the claim that the legislative effort to abolish the Department of Education was separate from his executive actions. "Not only is there no evidence that Defendants are pursuing a 'legislative goal' or otherwise working with Congress to reach a resolution, but there is also no evidence that the RIF has actually made the Department more efficient. Rather, the record is replete with evidence of the opposite," the judge wrote, referring to the "reduction in force" firings. "Consolidated Plaintiffs have demonstrated that the Department will not be able to carry out its statutory functions -- and in some cases, is already unable to do so -- and Defendants have proffered no evidence to the contrary," he wrote. MORE: 'Your position is being abolished': Education Department staff get official reduction-in-force notices "Today's order means that the Trump administration's disastrous mass firings of career civil servants are blocked while this wildly disruptive and unlawful agency action is litigated," said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which represented several of the plaintiffs. "Instead of taking a wrecking ball to our nation's best values and our chance at a better future, this administration should be focused on how to improve education and opportunities for all." "Today, the court rightly rejected one of the administration's very first illegal, and consequential, acts: abolishing the federal role in education," American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said of the ruling. "The vast majority of Americans and states like Massachusetts, with the highest NAEP scores, want to keep the education department because it ensures all kids, not just some, can get a shot at a better life."
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