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A federal judge May 22 blocked the Trump administration from moving forward with its plan to dismantle the Department of Education, ordering the reinstatement of employees laid off earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Boston issued the preliminary injunction Thursday in response to lawsuits from school districts, education groups, and 21 Democratic attorneys general, Associated Press reported. The plaintiffs argued the layoffs, announced in March, left the department unable to meet its legal obligations.
Joun agreed, writing that the layoffs “will likely cripple the Department” and that the administration’s claim of a simple reorganization “is plainly not true.”
About 1,300 department employees were dismissed in March, with additional reductions through buyouts and probationary terminations, according to AP.
These changes stem from a broader education reform effort that President Donald Trump announced in November and enacted through a March executive order. The administration maintains that the restructuring is intended to improve efficiency and reduce federal oversight, and it has pledged to appeal the court’s ruling.
As CatholicVote reported in November, Trump pledged to shut down the department, expand school choice, safeguard school prayer, and combat what he described as ideological bias or “wokeness” in public education.
The administration’s stated goal is to return education authority to states and parents while promoting alternatives like charter and private schools.
Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann criticized Joun’s decision as “judicial overreach,” AP reported.
“Once again, a far-left Judge has dramatically overstepped his authority,” Biedermann said, “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.”
