The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow it to fire hundreds of Department of Education employees.
In an emergency appeal, the administration said that the court should lift the previous ruling blocking Trump’s plan to turn educational policy over to the states. The block aimed to prevent the president from making any moves until teachers’ unions, school districts, and mostly Democratic-led states worked their lawsuits through the courts.
In March, Trump’s directive led to 1,300 Department of Education employees being laid off, almost half of its total workforce. The employees were to receive their last paychecks on June 9.
But, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun blocked the maneuver and said that cutting the department prevented the government from carrying out legally mandated programs and services. The judge also ruled that such changes could not be made without the consent of Congress.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Massachusetts affirmed Judge Joun’s decision saying that the administration failed to present evidence counter Joun’s findings on the impact of the layoffs.
“What is at stake in this case, the District Court found, was whether a nearly half-century-old cabinet department would be permitted to carry out its statutorily assigned functions or prevented from doing so by a mass termination of employees aimed at implementing the effective closure of that department,” Judge David Barron wrote.
Solicitor General John Sauer, who is representing the Trump Administration is asserting that the Executive Branch has the right to determine how many employees departments need.
“The Constitution vests the Executive Branch, not district courts, with the authority to make judgments about how many employees are needed to carry out an agency’s statutory functions, and whom they should be,” he said.
Though Joun’s ruling required that the employees be reinstated, a June 5 filing by districts, unions, and states say that none of the laid-off employees have been brought back to work nor has the administration communicated any intentions to do so.
The Department of Justice has asserted that the damage done by trying to reinstate the employees outweighs the damage done by reduced services.
On June 9, a hearing is scheduled for the district court to determine if the district court is complying with Joun’s order. The Supreme Court has given the states, school districts, and teachers’ unions until June 13 to respond to the administration’s appeal.
