The administration of President Donald Trump has filed an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking permission to implement major staff cuts within the Department of Education — a key component of Trump’s policy agenda that has been dogged by continuous legal hurdles.
The appeal, as covered by CNN, comes days after the First U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston upheld a lower court ruling to temporarily halt the administration’s attempts to launch mass furloughs at the department. First established during President Jimmy Carter’s time in office, the Department of Education has been an integral part of the federal government for decades.
The Trump administration’s brief contends that the reduction is within the executive branch’s “internal management decisions,” claiming that discretionary functions would be better managed at the state level. Although President Trump has continued to hold up his desire to do away with the department, government lawyers explained in their Supreme Court brief that such an action would involve congressional approval.
President Trump earlier this year directed wholesale firings at the Department of Education, triggering legal challenges predicated on the department’s legislative history. Lower courts have held that while Congress cannot eliminate the department, the executive branch can cut agency personnel provided the agency remains performing its statutory function.
The Department of Justice echoed the sentiments in its Supreme Court filing with the assertion, “The Department remains committed to implementing its statutorily mandated functions.”
This is among more than a dozen emergency petitions the Trump administration has brought since January upon his return to the White House. If the high court issues a ruling in the administration’s favor, it would establish a precedent for federal agencies to be reconstituted without congressional approval, which could remake the future of federal government and the balance between states and Washington.
