Latest news with #Joun
The Herald Scotland
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Supreme Court doesn't make Trump rehire Education Department workers
Trump is trying to fulfill his campaign promise to end the Education Department and move school policy to the states. The decision came a week after the court allowed the administration to move forward with large-scale staffing cuts at multiple agencies. The Education Department workers were placed on administrative leave in March and were to stop receiving salaries on June 9 before a judge intervened at the request of Democratic-led states, school districts and teachers' unions. The government had been spending more than $7 million a month to continue paying the employees who remain unable to work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Massachusetts said the White House's decision to fire more than 1,300 workers has prevented the federal government from effectively implementing legally required programs and services. Such changes can't be made without the approval of Congress, which created the department in 1979, Joun ruled in May. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed that decision. The court said the administration provided no evidence to counter Joun's "record-based findings about the disabling impact" of the mass firings and the transfer of some functions to other agencies. The Justice Department said the Constitution gives the executive branch, not the courts, the authority to decide how many employees are needed. "The Department of Education has determined that it can carry out its statutorily mandated functions with a pared-down staff and that many discretionary functions are better left to the States," Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court. An executive order Trump signed in March directed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to "facilitate the closure of the Department of Education." Republicans have long accused the federal government of holding too much power over local and state education policy, even though the federal government has no control over school curriculum. McMahon announced roughly half the agency's workforce would be eliminated through a combination of mass layoffs and voluntary buyouts. That would have reduced the staff from 4,133 workers when Trump began his second term in January to 2,183 workers. The administration also wants the Small Business Administration to take over student loans and move special education services to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Joun's May 22 order blocked the administration from transferring those functions and required the department to reinstate fired workers. The appeals court said Trump doesn't have to employ as many Education Department workers as the previous administration but can't cut so many that the agency can't function as Congress intended. States challenging the moves said the administration removed nearly all the workers who certify whether colleges and universities qualify for federal student aid programs. And it gutted the department in charge of the data used to allocate billions of dollars to states, lawyers for New York and other states told the Supreme Court. Unless the firings are reversed while the courts are deciding if the administration is acting legally, "it will be effectively impossible to undo much of the damage caused," lawyers for the Democracy Forward Foundation said, The Justice Department told the Supreme Court that the harms to the government from having to rehire the workers as the litigation continues are greater than any harms the challengers said they'll suffer from diminished department services. The department also opposed the challenge on procedural grounds.
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Education Department layoffs: Why Supreme Court's decision is ‘willfully blind' and ‘naive', judges explain
A divided Supreme Court on Monday allowed President Donald Trump to execute his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track and lay off nearly 1,400 employees. Three liberal judges, in their dissent, slammed the decision, saying it was 'naive' and 'willfully blind'. The decision pauses the order by Boston's Judge Myong Joun, who issued a preliminary injunction reversing the layoffs and calling into question the broader plan. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to execute mass layoffs in the Education Department(REUTERS) The layoffs 'will likely cripple the department', Joun wrote. While the majority did not explain its decision to back Trump, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Elena Kagan were quick to publish their dissent. '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. 'It hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out,' the three justices further added. 'The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive, but either way the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave." Meanwhile, 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. Earlier on Monday, over 20 states sued the administration over billions of dollars in frozen education funding for after-school care, summer programs and more. 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. (With AP inputs)
Sky News AU
5 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Supreme Court lets Donald Trump move forward with firing hundreds of Education Department workers
The Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the green light Monday to forge ahead with layoffs of more than 1,300 workers at the Department of Education and continue its effort to dismantle the agency completely. In an unsigned order, the justices lifted a Boston federal judge's ruling that blocked the firings and ordered the White House to hire back those who had already been dismissed. All three of the court's liberal justices dissented from the order, which sends the dispute back to the Boston-based 1st Circuit Court of Appeals. In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that allowing the White House to go forward with the dismissals 'hands the Executive the power to repeal statutes by firing all those necessary to carry them out.' 'The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naïve, but either way the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is grave.' US District Judge Myong Joun had ruled May 22 that congressional approval was required for such a large-scale dismissal of staff — and rejected the administration's argument that it was merely reorganizing the department. Joun warned that the layoffs would 'will likely cripple the department.' On March 20, Trump signed an executive order directing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to 'take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure of the Department of Education and return authority over education to the States and local communities'. Nine days earlier, the department laid off 1,315 employees in what it deemed the beginning of a process to reduce its work force by half. McMahon applauded the high court's emergency order, and vowed to continue delivering on the 'mandate to restore excellence in American education.' '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,' she said in a statement. 'While today's ruling is a significant win for students and families, it is a shame that the highest court in the land had to step in to allow President Trump to advance the reforms Americans elected him to deliver using the authorities granted to him by the U.S. Constitution.' To formally abolish the Department of Education, Trump would need the approval of Congress, which appears unlikely given the GOP's razor-thin majority in both chambers and the need to overcome a 60-vote legislative filibuster in the Senate. Solicitor General John Sauer had decried Joun's May ruling as tantamount to 'wresting of an entire Cabinet department from presidential control.' 'That is a quintessential decision about managing internal executive-branch functions and the federal workforce that the Constitution reserves to the Executive Branch alone.' A group of Democrat-led states had sued the Trump administration over the move and argued that Trump was exceeding his authority with the layoffs, which were designed to usher in the 'closure of the Department of Education.' Originally published as Supreme Court lets Donald Trump move forward with firing hundreds of Education Department workers
CNBC
5 days ago
- Politics
- CNBC
Supreme Court allows Trump to lay off nearly 1,400 Education Department employees
The Supreme Court is allowing President Donald Trump to put his plan to dismantle the Education Department back on track and 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. 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. 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 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.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court lets Trump fire hundreds of Education Department workers
WASHINGTON − An ideologically divided Supreme Court on July 14 allowed the Trump administration to fire hundreds of workers from the Education Department and continue other efforts to dismantle the agency. The court's three liberal justices opposed the order, the latest win for President Donald Trump at the high court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority handed Trump the power to repeal laws passed by Congress 'by firing all those necessary to carry them out.' 'The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naïve,' Sotomayor wrote, 'but either way the threat to our Constitution's separation of powers is great.' The majority did not explain its decision in the brief, unsigned order. The decision came a week after the court allowed the administration to move forward with large-scale staffing cuts at multiple agencies. Trump is trying to fulfill his campaign promise to end the Education Department and move school policy to the states. '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," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a statement. She said the administration will continue to perform education-related functions required by law while "empowering families and teachers by reducing education bureaucracy." The Education Department workers were placed on administrative leave in March and were to stop receiving salaries on June 9 before a judge intervened at the request of Democratic-led states, school districts and teachers' unions. The government has been spending more than $7 million a month to continue paying the employees who remain unable to work, according to the American Federation of Government Employees. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Massachusetts said the White House's decision to fire more than 1,300 workers has prevented the federal government from effectively implementing legally required programs and services. Such changes can't be made without the approval of Congress, which created the department in 1979, Joun ruled in May. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals backed that decision. The court said the administration provided no evidence to counter Joun's "record-based findings about the disabling impact" of the mass firings and the transfer of some functions to other agencies. The Justice Department said the Constitution gives the executive branch, not the courts, the authority to decide how many employees are needed. "The Department of Education has determined that it can carry out its statutorily mandated functions with a pared-down staff and that many discretionary functions are better left to the States," Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court. An executive order Trump signed in March directed McMahon to "facilitate the closure of the Department of Education." Republicans have long accused the federal government of holding too much power over local and state education policy, even though the federal government has no control over school curriculum. McMahon announced roughly half the agency's workforce would be eliminated through a combination of mass layoffs and voluntary buyouts. That would have reduced the staff from 4,133 workers when Trump began his second term in January to 2,183 workers. The administration also wants the Small Business Administration to take over student loans and move special education services to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Joun's May 22 order blocked the administration from transferring those functions and required the department to reinstate fired workers. The appeals court said Trump doesn't have to employ as many Education Department workers as the previous administration but can't cut so many that the agency can't function as Congress intended. States challenging the moves said the administration removed nearly all the workers who certify whether colleges and universities qualify for federal student aid programs. And it gutted the department in charge of the data used to allocate billions of dollars to states, lawyers for New York and other states told the Supreme Court. Unless the firings are reversed while the courts are deciding if the administration is acting legally, "it will be effectively impossible to undo much of the damage caused," lawyers for the Democracy Forward Foundation had told the Supreme Court. After the court's decision, Skye Peryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, said the group will "aggressively pursue every legal option as this case proceeds to ensure that all children in this country have access to the public education they deserve." The Justice Department had told the Supreme Court that the harms to the government from having to rehire the workers as the litigation continues are greater than any harms the challengers said they'll suffer from diminished department services. The department also opposed the challenge on procedural grounds. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court says Trump can fire Education Department workers
