Judge blocks Trump's orders to dismantle the Education Department and
fire employees
[May 23, 2025]
By COLLIN BINKLEY
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Donald
Trump’s executive order to dismantle the Education Department and
ordered the agency to reinstate employees who were fired in mass
layoffs. The administration said it would challenge the ruling.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston granted a preliminary
injunction stopping the Trump administration from carrying out plans
announced in March that sought to work toward Trump’s goal to shut down
the department. It marks a setback to one of the Republican president's
campaign promises.
The ruling came in 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 suit 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.
In his order, Joun said the plaintiffs painted a “stark picture of the
irreparable harm that will result from financial uncertainty and delay,
impeded access to vital knowledge on which students and educators rely,
and loss of essential services for America’s most vulnerable student
populations.”
Layoffs of that scale, he added, “will likely cripple the Department.
The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is
plainly not true."
Hours later, the Trump administration appealed the ruling.
“Once again, a far-left Judge has dramatically overstepped his
authority, based on a complaint from biased plaintiffs, and issued an
injunction against the obviously lawful efforts to make the Department
of Education more efficient and functional for the American people,”
spokesperson Madi Biedermann said in a statement.
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President Donald Trump holds a jersey as he departs after hosting
the 2025 NCAA Champion, University of Florida men's basketball team
in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Joun ordered the Education Department to reinstate federal workers
who were terminated as part of the March 11 layoff announcement.
That announcement led to the firing of about 1,300 people. Some
Education Department employees have left through buyout offers and
the termination of probationary employees, which combined with the
layoffs have reduced the staff to roughly half the 4,100 the
department had when Trump took office.
“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 represents
plaintiffs in the Somerville case.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers,
called the decision “a first step to reverse this war on knowledge
and the undermining of broad-based opportunity.”
The administration has said the layoffs are aimed at efficiency, not
a department shutdown. Trump has called for the closure of the
agency but recognizes it must be carried out by Congress, the
government said.
The administration said restructuring the agency “may impact certain
services until the reorganization is finished” but it’s committed to
fulfilling its statutory requirements.
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