Source: DOJ
Attorney General Kathy Jennings has won a court order stopping the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle the federal Department of Education (DOE). On March 13, Attorney General Jennings joined a coalition of 20 other attorneys general in suing the administration after it announced plans to illegally eliminate 50 percent of DOE’s workforce. Following a March 20 Executive Order directing the closure of DOE and President Trump’s March 21 announcement that the Department must “immediately” transfer student loan management and special education services outside of the Department, Attorney General Jennings and the coalition sought a preliminary injunction to immediately stop the mass layoffs and transfer of services. On May 22, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts granted the preliminary injunction, halting the administration’s dismantling of DOE and ordering that all employees who were fired as part of the layoffs be reinstated.
“Not content with wrecking our nation’s national security, economy, and social safety net, this administration decided that it needed to go after our student loan borrowers and special education programs, too,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings. “Fortunately, this order – and the numerous others like it – affirm what anyone with an ounce of sense already knew: the power to fund or defund programs or departments rests with Congress, not with the presidency.”
Attorney General Jennings and the coalition noted in their lawsuit that the Trump administration’s attacks on DOE are illegal and unconstitutional. The DOE is an executive agency authorized by Congress, with numerous laws creating its various programs and funding streams; the executive branch does not have the legal authority to unilaterally dismantle it without an act of Congress. In addition, Attorney General Jennings and the coalition noted that DOE’s mass layoffs violate the Administrative Procedures Act.
Joining Attorney General Jennings in filing the lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, Wisconsin, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.
