Supreme Court: Trump may continue to dismantle the Department of Education

Donald Trump's administration is permitted to fire nearly 1,400 employees of the U.S. Department of Education. The Supreme Court ruled on Monday. This lifts a previous moratorium imposed by a federal court in Boston. Trump can push his plan to dissolve the department as far as possible without a congressional vote. Instead of formally abolishing Secretary Linda McMahon's agency, critics say he is making it increasingly dysfunctional. Trump had already declared when McMahon took office in March that her goal as head of the department was actually to abolish it.

McMahon welcomed the ruling as a "decisive victory for students and families." He said they will now continue to make the department more efficient. The ruling authorizes the layoffs, which are initially expected to affect about half of all employees, but does not end the legal dispute over their legality. Federal court proceedings may continue.

Responsibility for public schools and colleges lies with the states. The Department of Education in Washington fulfills a number of overarching tasks, some of which Trump intends to eliminate without replacement. For example, it distributes financial aid to needy students, such as the so-called Pell Grants. Federal funds are also provided to economically disadvantaged school districts. The department is also tasked with monitoring compliance with civil rights laws at educational institutions and can initiate appropriate investigations. Quality control, educational research, and related statistics also fall within its purview. Also important is the oversight of special education programs for people with disabilities.

Many Republicans opposed the Department of Education, established in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, from its inception. In many places in the US, conservatives are committed to weakening the public school system in favor of the private school system. By gradually dismantling the department, Trump is also implementing a demand from "Project 2025," which right-wing conservative think tanks around the Heritage Foundation used before the election to formulate goals for his second term.

The ruling, handed down as part of the so-called "shadow docket" for emergency decisions without explanation, is another legal victory for Trump and his administration. The three liberal justices dissented from the majority opinion. One of them, Sonia Sotomayor, called the decision "untenable." Only Congress could abolish the department. In her dissent, Sotomayor wrote about her colleagues' decision: "The majority is either willfully blind to the consequences of this ruling or naive, but in either case, the threat to our constitutional separation of powers is grave."

The Supreme Court, which is predominantly composed of conservative judges, had issued several important rulings in Trump's favor in recent weeks, expanding the power of the executive branch. This allowed Trump to continue with mass dismissals in government departments and agencies, as well as with the deportation of some undocumented immigrants to third countries such as South Sudan.

At the end of June, the Supreme Court also curtailed the decision-making authority of federal judges. They can no longer issue nationwide injunctions in individual cases, as was previously the case. Their decisions must now be more clearly limited to the individual case. Judgments with nationwide scope are still possible, but they require, for example, a class action lawsuit.