President Trump’s sweeping executive actions meant to cripple the Department of Education (DoE) were blocked by a federal judge Thursday, who ruled that congressional approval was required.
Boston US District Judge Myong Joun of Massachusetts also ordered the Trump administration to reinstate workers who had been laid off in mass firings earlier this year in a preliminary injunction that the president’s team vowed to appeal.
“It is only reasonable to expect that an RIF [reduction in force] of this magnitude will likely cripple the Department. The idea that Defendants’ actions are merely a ‘reorganization’ is plainly not true,” Joun wrote in his opinion.
President Trump signing an executive order to begin dismantling the Department of Education at a White House ceremony on March 20, 2025. AFP via Getty ImagesTrump had signed an executive order in March to wind down all but essential operations in the DoE.
Prior to that directive, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon moved to let more than 1,300 workers go, which, when coupled with roughly 600 employees who left voluntarily, amounted to about half of the department’s roughly 4,000-person workforce.
Despite public talk of working to end the department, in court documents, the Trump administration argued that the mass firings were merely an administrative step needed to boost government efficiency that is within the secretary’s authority.
“Defendants do acknowledge, as they must, that the Department cannot be shut down without Congress’s approval, yet they simultaneously claim that their legislative goals … are distinct from their administrative goals (improving efficiency),” added Joun, a Biden appointee.
“There is nothing in the record to support these contradictory positions.”
The Department of Education was established in 1979 under the former President Jimmy Carter. Conservatives have long dreamed of abolishing the department, and Trump has made clear his goal is to deliver on that.
But to get approval from Congress, Republicans would likely have to overcome a 60-vote threshold needed to break a Democratic filibuster in the Senate.
The Trump administration accused Joun of “overstepping” his powers as a judge.
“President Trump and the Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education clearly have the authority to make decisions about agency reorganization efforts, not an unelected Judge with a political axe to grind,” DOE spokeswoman Madi Biedermann said in a statement.
“This ruling is not in the best interest of American students or families. We will immediately challenge this on an emergency basis.”
