Rules of the Supreme Court in the Department of Education cutting half of its staff

The Supreme Court paved the way for education service to dismiss hundreds of employees on Monday, a decision that advances President Donald Trump’s plans to dismantle the department.

The High Court decision in McMahon v. State of New York was made 6-3 according to ideological lines.

The decision temporarily interrupts an order from a lower court judge who had restored around 1,400 employees in the education department.

DEM AGS SUE on the layoffs of the Trump Administration Ministry of Education

The Supreme Court building in Washington, DC (Valerie Plesch / Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

In March, the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, dismissed half of the department’s workforce as part of the wider reduction in the Trump administration. Later this month, Trump announced in an executive decree that he planned to close the department completely.

The ordinance of the Supreme Court was born from two proceedings, one of which was put in place by 20 states led by the Democrats who challenged the dismissals of the Department of Education and the planned closure.

The complainants argued at the High Court that the “Record of the Trump administration reveals abundantly” that its “true intention is to effectively dismantle the department without authorization status”.

The Trump administration replied that the layoffs did not prove that the ministry was closed and that the ministry plans to perform its legally required functions. The congress should approve a complete closure of the ministry’s functions.

The sparks fly between the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and the representative Dem. Watson Coleman: “ You should feel shameless ”

Education Secretary Linda McMahon attends a Make America Healthy Again event in the East house in the White House on May 22, 2025. (AP photo / Jacquelyn Martin)

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, one of the three dissident judges, said that the majority’s emergency decision was “indefensible”.

“When the executive publicly announces its intention to break the law, then performs this promise, it is the obligation of the judiciary to verify this anarchy, and not to send it,” wrote Sotomayor.

McMahon said in a statement at the time of Trump’s decree that the legally required obligations of the education department would still be fulfilled.

“The closure of the department does not mean cutting the funds of those who depend on them – we will continue to support students from kindergarten to the 12th year, students with special needs, borrowing students and others count on essential programs,” said McMahon in March. “We will follow the law and eliminate the bureaucracy responsible for working by the congress to ensure a legal and orderly transition.”

Trump on the campaign track said his administration would try to close the Ministry of Education. (AP photo / Evan VUCCI)

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The Secretary of Education celebrated the temporary decision of the Supreme Court on Monday, claiming that her department “would now make her mandate to restore excellence in American education”.

“While we return education in the United States, this administration will continue to perform all statutory tasks while empowering families and teachers by reducing the bureaucracy of education,” said McMahon.