The Trump administration chalked up another massive victory with the U.S. Supreme Court when it was allowed to continue plans to significantly cut down the size of the Department of Education.
The judgment fell along ideological lines, with six justices in favor of and the three liberal justices dissenting against the ruling. The majority did not explain the ruling.
‘We’re just simply not doing something right. I don’t think that education that is handled from a bureaucratic position in Washington, DC, is best for the states.’
“The majority is either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in the dissent, “but either way the threat to our Constitution’s separation of powers is great.”
She also said the ruling effectively gave the president the power to overrule Congress “by firing all those necessary to carry” out the laws passed by the legislative branch.
President Donald Trump had previously announced his intention to shut down the Department of Education by firing many employees and transferring many of the department’s functions to other agencies.
Critics of the administration say the executive branch is overstepping its authority and usurping the powers of the legislative branch.
Solicitor General John Sauer argued to the Supreme Court that Education Department officials had determined they could carry out the agency’s “statutorily mandated functions with a pared-down staff and that many discretionary functions are better left to the states.”
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Education Secretary Linda McMahon argued in May that the agency had failed and needed drastic restructuring to fulfill the needs of America’s students.
“The Department of Education was set up in 1980. We have now spent, as a country, over $3 trillion to watch the performance of our students continue to decline,” she said.
“We’re just simply not doing something right. I don’t think that education that is handled from a bureaucratic position in Washington, D.C., is best for the states,” she added.
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