President Donald Trump (R) has asked the United States Supreme Court to halt enforcement of an order issued by a Massachusetts federal judge requiring that 1,400 former Department of Education employees.
These employees were originally let go as part of a reduction in force this past March. The federal judge’s order follows a pattern of district court judges across the country issuing sweeping injunctions to block White House initiatives on national policy matters.
The challengers in this case have until Friday, June 13 at 4 p.m. to respond to the Trump Administration’s request.
At the end of May, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun of Boston, appointed by former President Joe Biden (D), issued a preliminary injunction preventing Trump Administration from following through with plans announced in March that would have made progress toward the Department’s elimination and “to restore the Department to the status quo.”
The federal judge also barred the Administration from transferring the management of federal student loans and special education functions out of the Department — a key step toward achieving the goal of dismantling the agency.
Under this ruling, any employees who have already been fired in connection with these efforts must be reinstated to their former positions.
“The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true,” Judge Joun wrote in his decision.
“Defendants do acknowledge, as they must, that the Department cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval, yet they simultaneously claim that their legislative goals (obtaining Congressional approval to shut down the Department) are distinct from their administrative goals (improving efficiency),” his ruling continues. “There is nothing in the record to support these contradictory positions.”
“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,” he argued. “Rather, the record is replete with evidence of the opposite.”
[RELATED: Federal Judge Blocks Trump Admin’s Efforts to Dismantle U.S. Department of Education]
U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer has since urged the Supreme Court to intervene and block the order’s enforcement, arguing that the federal judge “is attempting to prevent” the Department of Education “from restructuring its workforce, despite lacking the” power to do so “several times over.”
“That preliminary injunction epitomizes many of the same errors in recent district-court injunctions usurping control of the federal workforce,” he said.
“Requiring the Department to reinstate employees who have not performed their duties for two months, who may have already taken other jobs, and who could be re-fired if the Court later grants a stay risks needless chaos and confusion for all involved and injects the district court into core executive-branch personnel matters,” Sauer argued.
Sauer went on to content that it would impose permanent harm on the government, if it were required “to pay salaries it cannot possibly recoup” and “to shoulder the massive administrative undertaking of reinstating large numbers of employees.”
He contrasted this was assertions that the challengers’ “attenuated concerns over diminished government services do not establish irreparable harm.”
The United States Supreme Court cannot be expected to issue a ruling on this case until after the challengers have had the opportunity to submit their response to this request at the end of the week.
