In a decisive ruling, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun has issued an injunction halting the Trump administration’s effort to dismantle education department ,the U.S. Department of Education. The decision came after the judge concluded that the administration’s move to fire 1,300 employees and shut down core functions of the department lacked legal authority and would cause irreparable harm to America’s education system.
“The record abundantly reveals that Defendants’ true intention is to effectively Dismantle education department, without an authorizing statute,” Judge Joun wrote in his ruling issued Thursday. He emphasized that only Congress has the power to shut down a federal agency and that the administration’s attempt to bypass that process was unlawful.
The judge ordered that all employees terminated since January 20 must be reinstated and barred the administration from implementing President Trump’s March 21 directive, which aimed to shift the management of federal student loans and special education services to other agencies.
Administration Pushback and Legal Response
The Dismantle Education Department, and the White House swiftly responded to the ruling with strong opposition. Madi Biedermann, a spokesperson for the department, stated that the administration would challenge the decision on an emergency basis. Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, criticized the judge’s ruling, claiming it was politically motivated and asserting that the President and his cabinet have legal authority to reorganize executive departments.
“President Trump and the Senate-confirmed Secretary of Education clearly have the authority to make decisions about agency reorganization efforts,” Biedermann said, calling the ruling “not in the best interest of American students or families.”
The administration filed a formal notice of appeal shortly after the decision was announced.
Judge Joun rejected the administration’s claim that the mass layoffs were intended to improve “efficiency and accountability,” pointing out that there was no evidence such goals had been achieved. Instead, declarations from former employees, educators, and unions described chaos, disruption, and a significant decline in services essential for students, particularly vulnerable populations.
Reactions from Educators and Legal Observers
Education and labor groups welcomed the court’s intervention, viewing it as a crucial defense against what they called an attempt to undermine public education. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, one of the plaintiffs in the case, hailed the ruling as a necessary safeguard.
“This decision rightly rejected one of the administration’s very first illegal, and consequential, acts: abolishing the federal role in education,” Weingarten said. “This decision is a first step to reverse this war on knowledge and the undermining of broad-based opportunity.”
The case centers on President Trump’s campaign promise to eliminate the Department of Education, a move formalized in a March executive order instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take steps to facilitate the department’s closure. Although McMahon had previously acknowledged that congressional approval was required to dismantle the agency, the administration moved forward with actions that the judge found clearly contradicted that legal requirement.
Judge Joun’s ruling restores the department to full operational capacity and underscores the legal limits of executive authority in reshaping federal agencies without legislative approval.
