Trump admin petitions Supreme Court to allow gutting of Education Department

The Trump administration on Friday petitioned the Supreme Court to allow it to gut the Education Department.

Last month, Biden-appointed U.S. District Judge Myong Joun blocked the administration's effort, ordering the reinstatement nearly 1,400 laid-off employees and reversing the president’s directives. The employees were let go in March, which cut the department’s staff in half, and the management of student loans had been transferred elsewhere in the government.

“Each day this preliminary injunction remains in effect subjects the Executive Branch to judicial micromanagement of its day-to-day operations,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a court filing on Friday, The Hill news outlet reported.

Two lawsuits were filed by Democratic-led states, school districts, and teachers’ unions that argued that President Trump is effectively shutting down the department, and doesn't have the authority to do so without congressional approval. 

Joun agreed with the plaintiffs, ordering last month that the president’s “true intention is to effectively dismantle the Department without an authorizing statute.”

The Justice Department brought the case to the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court declined to immediately lift the May ruling.

The administration acknowledges that it would need Congress to completely shutter the department, but that it is acting lawfully by retaining sufficient staff to carry out its mandatory functions. The DOJ also argued that the plaintiffs do not have legal standing to sue, as only the Merit Systems Protection Board can order the employees’ reinstatement, not a federal district judge.