SCOTUS Allows Education Dept. Layoffs  07/15 06:26

   The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to put his plan to 
dismantle the Education Department back on track -- and to go through with 
laying off nearly 1,400 employees.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to 
put his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track -- and to go 
through with laying off nearly 1,400 employees.

   With the three liberal justices in dissent, the court on Monday paused an 
order from U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston, who issued a preliminary 
injunction reversing the layoffs and calling into question the broader plan. 
The layoffs "will likely cripple the department," Joun wrote. A federal appeals 
court refused to put the order on hold while the administration appealed.

   The high court action enables the administration to resume work on winding 
down the department, one of Trump's biggest campaign promises.

   In a post Monday night on his social media platform, Trump said the high 
court "has handed a Major Victory to Parents and Students across the Country." 
He said the decision will allow his administration to begin the "very important 
process" of returning many of the department's functions "BACK TO THE STATES."

   The court did not explain its decision in favor of Trump, as is customary in 
emergency appeals. But in dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor complained that her 
colleagues were enabling legally questionable action on the part of the 
administration.

   "When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then 
executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary's duty to check that lawlessness, 
not expedite it," Sotomayor wrote for herself and Justices Ketanji Brown 
Jackson and Elena Kagan.

   The secretary of education lauds the decision

   Education Secretary Linda McMahon said it's a "shame" it took the Supreme 
Court's intervention to let Trump's plan move ahead.

   "Today, the Supreme Court again confirmed the obvious: the President of the 
United States, as the head of the Executive Branch, has the ultimate authority 
to make decisions about staffing levels, administrative organization, and 
day-to-day operations of federal agencies," McMahon said in a statement.

   A lawyer for the Massachusetts cities and education groups that sued over 
the plan said the lawsuit will continue, adding no court has yet ruled that 
what the administration wants to do is legal.

   "Without explaining to the American people its reasoning, a majority of 
justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have dealt a devastating blow to this 
nation's promise of public education for all children. On its shadow docket, 
the Court has yet again ruled to overturn the decision of two lower courts 
without argument," Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said 
in a statement.

   The Supreme Court has handed Trump one victory after another in his effort 
to remake the federal government, after lower courts have found the 
administration's actions probably violate federal law. Last week, the justices 
cleared the way for Trump's plan to significantly reduce the size of the 
federal workforce. On the education front, the high court has previously 
allowed cuts in teacher-training grants to go forward.

   Separately on Monday, more than 20 states sued the administration over 
billions of dollars in frozen education funding for after-school care, summer 
programs and more.

   Education Department employees are on leave

   Education Department employees who were targeted by the layoffs have been on 
paid leave since March, according to a union that represents some of the 
agency's staff.

   Joun's order had prevented the department from fully terminating them, 
though none had been allowed to return to work, according to the American 
Federation of Government Employees Local 252. Without Joun's order, the workers 
would have been terminated in early June.

   The Education Department had said earlier in June that it was "actively 
assessing how to reintegrate" the employees. A department email asked them to 
share whether they had gained other employment, saying the request was meant to 
"support a smooth and informed return to duty."

   The current case involves two consolidated lawsuits that said Trump's plan 
amounted to an illegal closure of the Education Department.

   One suit was filed by the Somerville and Easthampton school districts in 
Massachusetts along with the American Federation of Teachers and other 
education groups. The other legal action was filed by a coalition of 21 
Democratic attorneys general.

   The suits argued that layoffs left the department unable to carry out 
responsibilities required by Congress, including duties to support special 
education, distribute financial aid and enforce civil rights laws.