The Supreme Court on Monday reportedly granted the Trump administration permission to resume its sweeping effort to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, lifting a lower court injunction that had temporarily reinstated over 1,400 laid-off federal employees.
The unsigned order, issued without explanation from the six-member conservative majority, appeared to fall along ideological lines.
The Court’s three liberal justices — Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — dissented publicly, warning that the decision carries sweeping implications for the balance of power between the branches of government.
The decision marks a significant win for President Donald J. Trump, who has made the elimination of the Department of Education a centerpiece of his second-term agenda.
Established in 1979, the department has long been a target for conservative critics who argue that education policy should reside with states and local communities rather than Washington.
Since taking office, Trump has pursued a plan to cut the department’s workforce by half and transfer several of its core functions — including the administration of student loans — to other federal agencies.
A U.S. District Court in Massachusetts blocked the initiative in May, with a Judge ruling that such restructuring required congressional approval and ordering the reinstatement of the laid-off workers.
The Supreme Court’s ruling lifts that injunction while the legal battle continues in the lower courts, though it does not represent a final decision on the merits of the case.
The decision is part of a broader pattern in which the Court’s conservative majority has repeatedly sided with the Trump administration through its emergency docket.
Just days earlier, the Court allowed the White House to move forward with a wider set of federal layoffs and has previously upheld policies enabling rapid deportations and expanded access to Social Security data by a new agency focused on government efficiency.
The case is likely to return to the Court, but in the meantime, the ruling grants the president a freer hand to press ahead with a controversial plan that could reshape — or eliminate — a major pillar of federal oversight in education.
[READ MORE: Supreme Court Approves Trump’s Plans to Shrink Federal Workforce]
