Supreme Court Greenlights Trump’s Education Department Layoffs

The Supreme Court decided Monday that President Donald Trump can go ahead with dismantling the Education Department in the latest victory for the administration at the high court.

The court voted 6-3 along ideological lines to block a federal judge’s order to reinstate about 1,400 employees who were fired in mass layoffs at the Education Department earlier this year.

In March, Trump signed an executive order dismantling the Department of Education, following through on a key campaign promise to strengthen parental rights and improve academic outcomes across the country.

Also that month, Education Secretary Linda McMahon laid off about half of her department’s workforce.

The administration was hit with two lawsuits, one filed by a pair of Massachusetts school districts and the American Federation of Teachers union, and the other filed by 21 Democratic attorneys general.

In May, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston blocked the administration’s order and said the fired employees must be allowed to return to work.