The U.S. Supreme Court handed the Trump administration its first victory of the second term from the highest court of the land.
In a 5-4 ruling, the court temporarily allowed the administration to keep $65 million in federal funding cuts from Trump’s executive order against diversity, equity, and inclusion policies while litigation continues. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the three liberal justices in dissent.
‘The agency’s abruptness leaves one wondering whether any reasoned decisionmaking has occurred with respect to these terminations at all.’
The lawsuit against the Trump administration was filed by eight states led by Democrats that objected to the president cutting millions of dollars’ worth of funding for teacher-training programs. The order overturns a ruling blocking the cuts from a federal judge in Massachusetts.
The court’s majority ruling said that the states had the wherewithal to continue the programs while the litigation continued.
“So if respondents ultimately prevail, they can recover any wrongfully withheld funds through suit in an appropriate forum,” the ruling said.
Two of the liberal justices wrote in opposition to the emergency nature of the ruling.
“In my view, nothing about this case demanded our immediate intervention,” wrote Justice Elena Kagan. “Rather than make new law on our emergency docket, we should have allowed the dispute to proceed in the ordinary way.”
“It is beyond puzzling that a majority of Justices conceive of the Government’s application as an emergency,” added Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
“It would be manifestly arbitrary and capricious for the Department to terminate grants for funding diversity-related programs that the law expressly requires,” she added. “The agency’s abruptness leaves one wondering whether any reasoned decisionmaking has occurred with respect to these terminations at all.”
Roberts did not explain his position that he would have denied the stay.
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