President Donald Trump’s administration is moving forward with efforts to dismantle the Department of Education after a big win from the Supreme Court.
Trump celebrated the Supreme Court ruling in a July 14 social media post, saying it will allow his administration to give “the Power back to the PEOPLE” when it comes to education.
“With this GREAT Supreme Court Decision, our Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, may begin this very important process,” Trump wrote.
The Education Department has long been a target for conservatives who want to see it abolished. An executive order Trump signed in March directed McMahon to “facilitate the closure of the Department of Education.”
McMahon’s agency fired 1,300 workers in March in a move that, combined with 572 employees accepting buyouts, slashed the workforce in half. U.S. District Judge Myong Joun in Massachusetts said the terminations prevented the federal government from effectively implementing legally required programs and services. Such changes can’t be made without the approval of Congress, which created the department in 1979, Joun ruled in May.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed Joun’s ruling, but an ideologically-divided Supreme Court overturned the decision. The Supreme Court’s three liberal justices opposed the ruling.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the majority handed Trump the power to repeal laws passed by Congress “by firing all those necessary to carry them out.”
Trump said the decision will allow his administration to shift more education functions to the states and claimed “the Federal Government has been running our Education System into the ground.”
Contributing: Maureen Groppe
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump says Linda McMahon may now begin dismantling agency
